How to live a cartoon I
by Scout017
Summary: Based on the HTTYD series Dragons: Riders of Berk. About a month later, Annabelle still feels something weird about her dream. When she wakes up she can't believe where she is, and not alone. Hiccup/OC. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Rated T for swearing.
1. How to Start a Dragon Academy

_This, is Berk. It's twelve days North of Hopeless and a few degrees South of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. The village. In a word, sturdy. It's been there for seven generations but every single building is new. There's fishing, hunting, and a charming view of sunsets. The only problems are the pests. Most places have mice or mosquitos. They have..._

* * *

"Hey, I'm talking to you! Put the pencil down!"

The yell made me scratch the paper I was writing on. Now that it was more than evident that the teacher was talking to me, I immediately sat correctly on my chair and left my pencil on top of my desk, but also hided the paper from view just in case.

The classroom was in complete silence and all gazes were on me. Well, most of them. The teacher's steps echoed in the room and no matter how much I pleaded in my head that he didn't come my way, he arrived at my desk and stared at me.

"So... Would you mind to tell your classmates what were you doing?"

I kept quiet. It was what I did best. Every word I said in that moment could be used later on against me, so from my mouth escaped no sound.

"I'm talking to you." Nothing. "Are you senses failing lastly? Or am I talking on another language? Speak to me!"

"On her bag." A voice said.

The teacher turned to the student. "What did you say?"

"I saw her hide a paper." The student continued and with my eyes I told him to shut up.

"I want you to take out what you hided on your bag, go in front of the classroom and read aloud what you wrote." I didn't move. "Do it. Or I'll inspect your bag personally."

I grabbed my bag, took out the paper, showed it to my teacher and before he could read what it say I tore it to pieces. It was better than let him have it. I was sent to the principal's office.

What was I doing? You may ask. Well, it's been a month since that night I had this dream where I met a viking, he and I befriended a dragon and defeated an evil queen dragon saving an entire village.

It was the night I watched a movie with Lucy. But for some reason, when I re-watched the movie it didn't happen again. I say it's a dream because I woke up the next morning on my bed, yet the dream felt so real.

I sighed and knocked on the door from the office.

"Come in." The principal said from inside and I opened the door. Then I sat on one of the chairs and before I could explain, my teacher entered and I knew this was not good.

When I arrived home I received a "well-deserved" scold from my mother. She yelled at me and said many things that hurt me. I was sent to my room without dinner, what for me was something of 'life or death'. I swore under my breath and stormed out to my room, closing the door with a loud _BAM!_

For hours, I did nothing more than to lie on my bed and stare at my roof. I had one hand over my stomach to stop the growling that was similar to one of a lion. I tried to not think on my hunger, but at this point it was nearly impossible.

Turning to my left I noticed Thomas -my cat- staring at me outside of my window. I stood up, carried Thomas on my arms and lie on my bed again. More less at eight o'clock I heard someone open my door and lay on the bed besides me, and I knew it was Dallas. Suddenly I felt his hand rub my back, gently.

"She didn't mean it, Anna." He said in a low voice, and I noticed he called me Anna. I remember that this guy...Hamish on the dream called me that. "She had a rough day, they paid her very little." I caressed Thomas who had fallen asleep and was curled in a ball. "Anna... You know she loves you, right?"

I turned to my right very slowly to look at him. He wasn't wearing his deep blue leather jacket. His chain was hanging out of his white T-shirt, and he had socks on but not his converse. I stared at his ice blue eyes, and what I saw in them was care. Care for me, for his little sister. I sighed.

"I don't know, Dally. This past month everything changed. Ever since that dream, nothing's the same. I'm not the same. Have you noticed I've changed? I don't focus on classes, I read more than usual, I even tolerate Thomas sleep in room... I don't know what's wrong with me."

"I know what it feels like, I've been through this. Everybody makes mistakes and we all pass through situations we would want to disappear from the face of Earth. But you're human, aren't you? You are allowed to make mistakes."

"Even if your mother yells at you and sends you to your room without dinner?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, about that..." He placed two fingers on his mouth and hissed.

"Special delivery!" Someone shouted from outside. I eye widened, then I stood up and ran to my window. I gasped when I saw a teenager with black hair, blue eyes, grey t-shirt, blue dark jeans, and black converse with a big basket and a rope.

"Ahti?" I asked.

"Hello buddy." Dallas waved. Ahti was one of Dallas BFFs. He was one year and half older than me. "Got what I asked?"

"Extra-large pizza, half pepperoni, half bacon and cheese." He threw the rope and Dallas caught it. He passed it through a branch of a tree that grew besides my window, strong enough to support the weight of a 21 teenager. They lifted the basket and I grabbed it, then Ahti climbed the tree and entered my room. Thomas used the opportunity and got out of my room through the window, climbed the tree and jumped to the floor before running away. Unlike other cats, Thomas was not afraid of heights. "Hello, Ann." Ahti said.

I hugged him. "Hi." We broke the hug and went with Dallas. He took out the pizza of the basket and rubbed his palms.

"Alright. Who's hungry?" He asked. I couldn't do anything but grin.

 _One hour later..._

" _Aaahhh_. Man, that was delicious." Dallas said.

"Totally." Ahti and I said at the unison and we shared a glare before we laughed.

"H-hey, what's that on your neck?" Ahti asked.

"What's _what_?" Dallas said lying on the floor.

"You mean my necklace?" I asked as I grabbed it from the black string, which was thin but resistant.

The necklace was a snail shell of various shades of blue, from the top a light blue almost white to the bottom a dark blue almost purple and black. On each side there were two other stones that matched with the shell.

"Who gave it to you?"

I looked at Ahti with a frown. "How do you know somebody actually _gave_ it to me?"

"I can see it is very fragile and refined. Each one was chosen carefully to match your personality. This is not something you can go and buy in any store, believe me."

"Seems you know much about this, eh?"

"No, not really." He said with a shrug. "Just some things you learn reading."

"Nerd." Dallas said.

"This nerd bought the pizza, idiot."

"And it was delicious. Now, go away."

I rolled my eyes. "Alright Dallas, get out. Go and drink if you want." He snapped open his eyes and turned at me like if I had lost my mind.

"Are you serious?" His eyes sparkled.

"Yep, and I won't tell mom. If she asks, I'll cover you and said you went to sleep with Rachel."

Dallas stood up in a blink and ran to hug me. He carried me and moved from one side to the other. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He grabbed a jacket from my closet, a pair of converse and ran to the window. He landed on the tree and turned at us. "Coming buddy?"

"Go on, I'll catch you guys in a moment."

"Don't be late!" He climbed down the tree and ran to catch up with the gang which was just coming to search for them. They greeted each other with fist bumps and high-fives, then turned to wave at us and begin to walk away.

"I should be going." Ahti said.

"Why don't you stay?" I asked. "You know, since last summer I hadn't a sleepover."

He shrugged. "I guess I could stay. Though your brother will kill me tomorrow, you know?"

"Its a risk you'll have to take. Thanks for the dinner, anyway."

"No problem. If it happens again, you can call me." He said as he lay on my bed and placed his hands under his head. "Maybe we could hang out or something."

"I don't know. My mom won't let me."

"I'll convince her. She'll say yes, I'm sure of it."

I smiled and lay down besides him. For almost a whole hour we talked about our summer and school, of our families and many other things, then we fell asleep.

* * *

Something woke me up. Something familiar. My skin was ice cold. I turned a bit to grab a blanket, but my bed felt weird, and empty. It was hard, and something tickled at the same time.

 _What's that smell? Smells like watered grass and mud._

My hand grabbed something soft but it was dirty. I opened an eye and saw dirt on my palm. I closed it again, when my mind clicked in and I snapped open my eyes. I gasped and sat straight. Looking at my surroundings, there were trees everywhere and I was sitting on the ground. Ahti was nowhere to be seen. This had happened before...

~ _Hello again. Missed me?_ ~

Oh God. Now I was sure, I remembered that voice too well. My internal voice.

I was back on Berk.

...so that meant that wasn't really a dream. How did I returned? How did I went home last time? How much time would I stay here? Did I really saved Berk from a monstrous dragon the size of a mountain?

Leaving my questions aside, I went to find the village. I didn't remember the path exactly, last time I came here and was chased by a dragon with spikes on its head and tail, and I got one on my leg.

It wasn't less than a month since I saw the guys. Curious fact, I supposedly spent here more than two months and when I went back home it was the first day of summer.

About almost an hour later I saw a dragon. The dragon saw me and walked to me, then it sniffed me.

 **"What is this scent? You're not from here, are you?"**

I froze. Did the dragon just... talked? A little kid appeared out of nowhere and shouted, "Spike! Come here!"

Apparently the dragon was "Spike". It was a blue...monstrous nightmare if I wasn't wrong, and until now I realized it wasn't as big as I remembered. This one seemed to be younger.

 **"Lunch time!"** The dragon turned around and flew to the kid. When the kid noticed me he waved at me and then mounted the dragon, flying away. I was still shocked. Since when I can understand dragons?

~ _Last time you came here. A poisonous dragon bitted you on your arm and somehow you survived, but you gained a special ability_ ~

That explains my scar on my arm. I always wondered what happened.

I went the way the kid and the dragon went too. Minutes later, I recognized the village and I couldn't help but smile. But also I got a few questions. For example, did dragons and Vikings got well along? Did there were no more raids? Did Berk finally lived in peace?

When I heard vikings yelling and dragons growling I supposed not. To my surprise, dragons were now living among vikings, but they didn't seem to be getting well-along.

"Bad dragon! Let go off my food! Drop it, pesky dragon!" A viking cried grabbing a leg chicken and a little dragon, a terrible terror trying to take it off from her.

 **"But I want food! I'm hungry!"** The dragon cried.

"Get off my roof! You pest!" Another viking exclaimed to a deadly nadder, who wouldn't leave.

Suddenly people began running away and looking for some cover. Two vikings I have no idea their names are but one of them had a bucket on the head, used two shields like umbrellas. I looked at the sky and eye widened when I saw a huge pack of dragons, suddenly pooped! I ran straight to the two vikings.

"Hello lass." One of them greeted me, he had a hook instead of his right hand.

"Hello!" The other viking with the bucket on the head greeted me.

"Hi." I said to both. "Uhh, could you explain me why...?" I pointed up and the first one spoke up.

"Every day at three pm. They're regular at least." I shuddered and placed two fingers on my nose, trying to not breathe in the disguting smell. What shocked me more was that dragon poop was in different rainbow colors. When it was over most of the vikings grabbed shovels and started to clean. "Hey, I haven't seen ya around before. What's your name?"

"I'm Annabelle. Who are you?"

"I'm Mulch, and this is Bucket." Bucket waved at me. "Nice to meet you."

"Same here. Hey, would you tell me where's is the chief's house? I have something to talk to them."

"Over there." He pointed right and I thanked him. Then I ran off. Unfortunately, someone ran on my way and I couldn't stop in time, so I bumped into him and ended on top of the teen. I shook my head to get off the dizziness and sat on the ground.

"I'm sorry." We said at the same time and I snapped my head up at the tone of his voice. My blue eyes met two green emerald ones. The teen had auburn hair, a small scar on his chin, he wore a green sleeved shirt, dark green pants, a brown belt, a furred vest and brown boots. Er, boot. I immediately recognized him.

"Annabelle?" He asked with wide eyes.

"Hiccup..." I stood up and ran to hug him. He hugged me back, tightly. "I can't believe it's you!"

" _I_ can't believe it's _you_!" We broke the hug, but still held hands. "I mean, you-you never said when you'll leave, or when you'll come back and..."

"...I went to sleep with you on your room and then I woke up in my room back at home!"

"I'm glad you're back." He smiled at me. "Come on, I'll let you some clothes you can use. Also, I think my dad's gonna be happy to see you. And don't forget the gang, and Gobber and–"

"Yeah, I missed all of them too. I can't wait to see them!" I exclaimed and he chuckled. We arrived to the house and he gave me a green shirt, a brown belt, green pants and brown boots, just like him. "Oh, I remember this. Twin brother." I said with a smile and he smiled back.

"You should, twin sister. Come, let's go and see the others." Hiccup opened the door, only to find a black large lizard with wings on the door.

"Toothless!" I exclaimed. He tackled me to the floor and licked all my face.

 **"Annabelle! I knew you were back! I recognized your scent from a mile away!"** He said and I scratched his scales.

"I had missed you too. Would you let me...?" I gestured to his saddle.

 **"Don't have to ask. Get on!"** He exclaimed exited and I mounted him. Hiccup smiled and mounted too, then there was a _click!_ And I directed my gaze to the left. Instead of a foot there was a prostetic leg.

"Oh...right." I muttered to myself. Hiccup had saved the village from the Red Death, but it costed him his leg.

We flew off and in seconds we arrived to the killing ring, just that now I supposed they didn't kill dragons anymore. There were the teens and each one had dragons of their own.

"Hi everyone." I said as I dismounted Toothless with the help of Hiccup, who instead of offering a hand grabbed me from the waist and carried me down. I cleared my throat and Hiccup realized what he did before letting go of me and scratching his head awkwardly.

"Whoa. I must be dreaming, cuz I just saw Annabelle mount off Toothless." Tuffnut said and Ruffnut nodded. He then looked at his sister. "Whoa, what are you doing in my dream? Get out! I don't want you too!" I shook my head.

Fishlegs was the first to approach. "Annabelle, you're back!" He wanted to hug me but realized what he was about to do and stopped himself. I smiled and hugged him, then he hugged me back.

"I certainly am, Fishlegs." There was a growl and I turned around to find a Gronkle behind me. "This is your dragon, right?"

 **"I'm Meatlug. It's lovely to meet you!"** She said and I smiled.

"Yeah, yeah. Wait until you see Hookfang." A voice said from behind, it was Snotlout. "He's a monstrous nightmare. The best dragon of them all." Hookfang set himself on fire and his pants got on fire as well. He ran straight towards a bucket of water. I chuckled and patted Hookfang.

"Hi boy."

 **"Hello there, human. I'm glad to see you again."**

"Same here." Then I went to the twins. "Hi guys. Who are those?"

"These are Barf and Belch." Ruffnut introduced.

"Hey! I was going to say that! No fair!" They began to fight each other. I rolled my eyes and went away. Last but not least was Astrid, who smiled at me. We hugged each other.

"Hi Astrid, I'm happy to see you."

"Same here!" She paused and glared at me before saying, "Why are you wearing Hiccup's clothes?" She asked.

"That's what I used last time I was here." I said. She shook her head and dragged me from the hand towards her dragon, a deathly nadder.

 **"Hello again."**

"Hi there..."

"Her name's Stormfly." Astrid told me. "Now, get on her." She said as she mounted Stormfly.

"Why?"

"You just have been here less than five minutes and I know that you're not gonna wear the same clothes as Hiccup." She stated. I looked at Hiccup and he raised an eyebrow, I replied with a shrug and we flew off.

We arrived to her house and I took a moment to admire it, it was beautiful. More girl-like. I greeted her parents and we went upstairs to her room. There was a bed, a wardrobe and a box with weapons, mostly axes. She went to her wardrobe and got out some of her clothes, before she said "Gotcha!" And let me some clothes. "Here. I'll give you time to dress, when you're ready come down."

"Thanks Astrid." I said before she nodded and leaved. In ten minutes I was ready. I was wearing black pants and brown furred boots, a blue sleeved shirt that reached my wrists and under it a light blue sleeved shirt that reached the middle of my hands. On top of my shirt, I wore a short brown furred vest that reached below my chest and a brown belt.

I went downstairs and Astrid was slightly surprised about my new look. She nodded pleased and suggested that she wanted to make my hair. She started to braid it and ended in a messy french braid, then we returned to the arena. Everyone stared at me with a blank expression and I blushed. "What?" I asked.

"Well, you look... Uhhh..." Hiccup began, unable to hide his blush.

"Beautiful." Fishlegs finished and I smiled. Tuffnut and Snotlout were speechless and I chuckled.

"Okay. So, who wants to tell me what you do in here?"

When night fell, Hiccup let me stay on his house and I thanked him. We encountered Stoick in there. "Welcome back, lass." He greeted me.

"Thanks chief." We had dinner and then we went upstairs to sleep. I fell asleep thinking of the joy that I had returned and I couldn't be more glad of been here.

* * *

The next day I woke up and I nearly forgot I was back in Berk. I stretched and went downstairs to have breakfast, Hiccup and Toothless were already up.

"Morning." I said.

"Morning." Hiccup replied.

 **"Morning."** Toothless gave a...toothless yawn. Hiccup served two bowls of cereal. After we finished, we were going to the arena again to meet the others, when we saw Stoick and Gobber talking to someone I didn't recognize.

"Who's talking your father to?" I asked and Hiccup groaned.

"That's Mildew. He likes to complain about everything, _specially_ dragons. Come on bud, let's see what is this time."

We turned around and flew towards them. We arrived just in time when we heard the old and grumpy man say, "You need to put those dragons in cages!" I gasped and ran to the vikings.

"What? No! There's no need for that!" I said. The old man glared at me. Boy, he gave me chills.

"If you don't, they'll eat us out of house and home and destroy the entire village!"

"Why would dragons do that? It's not like they love to destroy things. They're just dragons being dragons!" I explained. The vikings talked between them, wondering if they should cage them or not.

"Look Stoick, I think I speak for everyone when I say you better do something about it." He said lastly before walking away with a sheep along him.

"Better speak for yourself." I muttered.

 _Later on..._

Stoick and Gobber where discussing what to do about the old man's complain. After bringing many ideas that didn't seem good, Stoick gave up.

"Maybe Mildew was right. We have to figure something–"

"No, no, wait, Dad. What if _I_ deal with the dragons?" Hiccup suggested. Stoick glared at him like if a third eye had appeared on his forehead.

" _You_?"

"Who else? If anyone can control, I can. I'm the best man for the job."

"Hiccup, you're not even a man yet." I said and he glared at me.

"You're not helping me. Besides, I won't be a man if you don't give me a chance to be!"

"Fair enough." Stoick said. "You'll have your chance, starting tomorrow."

* * *

"Okay, gang, there's gonna be some changes around here." Hiccup said confidently the next day. A dragon tried to grab a basket from a viking woman. He ran quickly to them and calmed the nadder, placing a hand on its snout. But it was startled again when a gronkle passed by chasing some chickens, and the nadder went after them. I walked to Hiccup.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" I asked worriedly.

"Of course. I've got everything under contr–" He didn't finish when we heard a chirp and we saw a nadder and a nightmare fighting near a farm setting a few sheep on fire. I ran to them and calmed down both dragons.

"Alright, you guys just calm down!"

 **"He called me big-headed!"** The nadder cried.

 **"He called me pet!"** The nightmare replied.

"There's no need for insults. Just spread apart." They did so and I sighed in relief. It did helped I could understand dragons now. However, today there was more chaos than yesterday. Moments later, the sky was full of dragons and I ran to a house to protect myself, but Hiccup wasn't so lucky.

 _At night..._

Hiccup, Toothless and I were on his room, while I held a block of ice on Hiccup's head. When I asked for ice, I didn't expect them to have literally a block of ice.

"Oh, everything hurts. Even _this_." He lifted his prosthetic leg.

 **"That only means it really hurts."** Toothless said. I nodded.

"Hiccup, Annabelle?" A voice asked from the first floor. It was Astrid.

"Astrid? Perfect. I don't look _too_ beat up, do I?" Toothless gave a pity smile. "Oh great. Dragon pity. Hey Astrid! What a surprise!" Hiccup said with a false joy as Astrid entered the room and I removed the block of ice.

"So, how was your day?" She asked.

"Uh, uneventful. Hung around the plaza, you know..."

"Yeah, I _do_ know." She said. "We saw you two out there. It's hard to believe you're still standing."

"To be honest he was sat down this whole time while I tried to help him with his headache." I said and Hiccup let himself fall into his bed, exhausted.

"Ugh! I'm gonna see flamming sheep in my dreams for the next month." In that Stoick called Hiccup.

"Hiccup, what's going out there? The plaza looks like a war zone." He said worried. I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, compare this to the movies at home or something as big as the World War II and this is like Heaven." They all stared blanky at me. "And I'll shut up." I muttered.

"I know it looks bad..."

"Really bad." Astrid muttered at my ear.

"...but this is just phase one of my master plan!"

"So you _do_ have a plan?" Astrid and I asked at the same time surprised.

"What kind of question is that? Of course I do! Very complex, lot's of drawings, several moving parts. Pretty wild."

"Uh-huh. Well, this better be real. Because Mildew's stirred up the whole island. And if you don't get those dragons under control, they'll be calling for their heads." Stoick said lastly before he leaved us with our eyes wide and Toothless worried.

 **"I don't like the sound of that."** Toothless crooned sadly. I walked to him and patted him trying to comfort him.

"Don't worry, Toothless. Your head's not going anywhere." He nuzzled me affectionally and I smiled. "Hiccup knows what he's doing." I said before I turned to him with a questioning look. "Right...?"

"Of course I do! I'll tell you guys on the morning."

* * *

So we waited all night, especially me, for today to come. We all gathered at the now not-killing ring and Hiccup told us about his "master plan". But when he explained us, it seemed more like an idea he had from one day to the other.

"That's your plan? Train dragons?" Ruffnut asked.

"Where we used to kill them?" Tuffnut continued. I had to admit it was a good idea, but right now it wasn't the time to try and train dragons. We needed a real plan and of course, Hiccup had none.

~ _Does it remind you of somebody?~_

Shut up.

"Right...because we don't do that anymore. That's why is available."

"Actually the dragons do seem a little nervous." Astrid said.

"Seem?" I asked. "They _are_ nervous. Just hear what they say. At this rate I'm going to have a migraine soon." I said placing two fingers on my nose, between my eyes.

"That's because they're sensitive, Meatlug especially." Fishlegs said. "She lost a cousin here. We try not to talk about it."

"I just can't believe we have the arena for ourselves. How did you happen to convince your Dad?" I asked Hiccup. He laughed awkwardly and scratched his head with his hand. "Oh no. Hiccup I know what that means. We're going behind his back, aren't we?"

Hiccup clapped his hands. "There you go, talking about that...here's the thing." I glared at him and he ignored me. I wanted to hit him on the head but that wouldn't solve anything. Except my "anger issues". "Okay, the dragons are out of control. We want them to live in our world without destroying it but they can't without our help. They've been blowing things up in the village...we've gotta do something about that."

However the twins understood exactly the opposite, help the dragons blow stuff.

"Guys this is serious! Mildew wants all of our dragons caged. And I don't know about you, but that's not okay with me."

"Well said Hiccup. Very well said." I congratulated him, making my anger go away little by little.

"She's sorry." Tuffnut said. Ruffnut glared at her brother. I found it funny that it happened something similar all the time with Dallas and me.

After that Hiccup explained us what to do when dragons took things they were not supposed to either grab or eat, by scratching them in the chin. Snotlout been Snotlout, had to do things his way and yelled at Hookfang to drop a load of bread. Hookfang actually dropped it, but grabbed Snotlout instead.

"Should we help him?" Tuffnut asked chuckling.

"Uh... Maybe." I replied.

"You guys still there?" Sounded Snotlout's voice muffled. "Can somebody do the chin- scratchy thing?" He asked.

 _Later on..._

We arrived to the village expecting to see people and dragons fighting over anything at all, but it was all quiet and peacefully.

"Where's everybody?" I asked to no one in particular, but in that moment there was an explosion from not too far away and we all ran towards the mushroom-like cloud.

"Ow! Stop it! Give it back, it's mine!" A viking cried.

Where supposedly they stored the food for the winter, now was a pile of smoking splinters. And to make it worst, we found Stormfly and Hookfang on the scene of crime.

"They've eaten everything!" Stoick exclaimed angrily. "We've got nothing left for the freeze!"

Mildew appeared. "I warned you Stoick. But did you listen to me? No. You put a bunch of _teenagers_ in charge! Now look at what the dragons have done! Caging is too good for these beasts."

"Teenagers? Beasts?" I repeated as I made my way towards him. "That's the only thing you care about, caging the dragons. You don't care at all about this situation. You only want them caged because you hate them. You're a coward."

The old man just glared at me once more. The sheep "Baahhed" at me before walking away. I shook my head and sighed.

"Dad, I swear I can fix this." I heard Hiccup say. "We-we were just starting to–"

"Enough Hiccup!" Stoick exclaimed. "How can I trust you to control all the dragons, when you couldn't even control your own?" That's when we saw Toothless digging into a basket of fish.

"Oh Toothless..."

"Bucket! Mulch! Man the boats! We need nother catch!" Stoick ordered.

"It's too late, Stoick. It took us six month to catch all that fish." Mulch said.

"Don't tell me it's too late! We've got to try!"

"Of course we do!" Mulch quickly corrected. "Uhh, don't tell the Chief it's too late, Bucket! You're always so negative!"

"I don't know what is it with me." Bucket said. However Hiccup didn't give up so easily.

"Dad please! You gotta listen to me. I know dragons better than–"

"Not now, Hiccup. I have a village to feed." Stoick said. Great, put your responsibility over your own son. Now I remember why I hate fathers so much. "The dragons have done enough damage. By tonight, I want every one of them caged. Understand?" I gasped. I certainly didn't have a dragon, but I didn't want the other teens' dragons to be locked up in a prison!

"Bah! You can't just cage these dragons! You need to send them away now!" Mildew said. No. That couldn't hap–

"Stoick, Mildew's right!" A Viking said.

"Get 'em out of here!" Another joined.

"You're right, Mildew. We'll cage them tonight, and in the morning, Hiccup will send them off the island." Stoick decreed and we shared a look of horror. "I'm sorry, son." He said before turning away.

After that we all gathered in the Great Hall, and it seemed like if we had written "SADNESS" all over us.

"I can't believe we have to send them away!" Snotlout said.

"It's gonna be weird. I got used to seeing Stormfly's face being the first thing I see every morning." Astrid only got more depressed because she had been mixing her soup a hundred times and it had taken the form of Stormfly's face.

"Every night before I went to sleep, Meatlug would lick my feet. Who's gonna do that now?!"

"I volunteer Tuffnut!" Ruffnut exclaimed. Tuffnut was too sad to care at all.

"Whatever. What time should I be there?"

"Come on, guys. Let's get this over with." Astrid said standing up and leaving, the others following behind.

"This is the worst day of my life! We're never gonna see our dragons again!" Fishlegs cried.

"I don't even have a dragon." I muttered sadly.

"We can't let that happen! Toothless is the best friend I've ever had." Hiccup said. Then he realized what he just said. "Sorry, Annabelle."

"It's ok. I get your point. I neither want Toothless nor the other dragons to be locked up like once they were. I was and it's not pretty." I said remembering last time, they've locked me and chained me up because I tried to protect Toothless.

Mildew walked towards us with a sad face, but we knew it was fake. "Oh, Toothless, I'm gonna miss you so much..." He mocked. "You know what your mistake was? Thinking dragons could be trained. But a dragon's gonna do what a dragon's gonna do. It's their nature. And nature always wins." He said lastly before walking away.

 **"I'm done with him!"** Toothless said and before he could attack him out of anger, the Great Hall doors open letting in a cold chill that made the fireplace go out. Toothless relighted the fire with a plasma blast.

"Oh! Thank you, Toothless." Said a Viking woman. Suddenly Hiccup had an idea.

"You know what? Mildew is absolutely right!"

I looked at him like he was mad. I was just three days in here of knowing that guy and I already hated him, and Hiccup just gave him the reason when he caused all of this in the first place? "Excuse me, would you repeat your words?"

"Just come with me! We have to stop the others. Come on, bud!"

We flew off and arrived at the arena just in time to see the gates were starting to close. "Don't close it!" Hiccup yelled. We landed near the gates, then he grabbed the lever to open them back.

"We are not locking them up." I said with a smile.

"What happened?" Astrid asked. "Did you change your father's mind? Or are we going behind his back again...?"

"Uh... one of those." Astrid turned to me and I held two fingers up. She sighed. "Look. The dragons are gonna do what they're gonna do. It's their nature. We just need to learn how to use it!"

The teens looked at each other with hope in their eyes.

* * *

The next day, Mulch and Bucket were trying to catch fish. But they didn't happen to have any luck. That's where we came in.

Snotlout, Hiccup and I flew over to the boat. "Snotlout, scare us up some dinner!" Hiccup ordered.

"Dragon attack!" Bucket yelled alarmed.

Hookfang dived into the ocean, scaring the fish and herding them into the fishing nets. "WHOO-HOO!"

"Hey! Thanks, dragon!" Mulch thanked.

"THAT'S RIGHT! THAT JUST HAPPENED!" Snotlout exclaimed. Hiccup and I shared a smile.

Then we flew among Astrid and Fishlegs toward Mildew's field, where the old man was trying to plant more cabbage. "Come on! Follow us!" Hiccup yelled to the others, what caught Mildew's attention.

"Huh?"

"Afternoon, Mildew!" I said and waved my hand at him, smirking. Mildew narrowed his eyes wondering what was going on.

Astrid used Stormfly's tail to dig into the soil, while we flew down to pour cabbage seeds into the ground-up dirt.

"Three o'clock! Time for the fertilizer!" Hiccup announced.

Mildew looked puzzled. "Fertili–?" Hundreds of dragons flew over Mildew's field, Fishlegs and Meatlug joining them.

"Okay, Meatlug, let 'er rip!" Fishlegs said. Meatlug and the rest of the dragons began pooping onto the field, providing a good fertilizer to help grow Mildew's cabbage. Still I had to cover my nose to not throw up.

"Smile, Mildew! We just saved you three months of work!" Hiccup said and I laughed.

In the forest, the Twins used Barf and Belch's explosions to scare a sounder of wild boars. Once they ran out of the forest, we herded them all into the village's slaughterhouse.

"That's the way to do it!" I cheered.

"Whoo-hoo! That was awesome!" Fishlegs exclaimed in joy.

"How did you know that was gonna work?" Astrid asked stunned and I remembered yesterday at the Great Hall.

"Because they're dragons, and they're gonna do what dragons do." I said.

"We just have to work with them and not against them." Hiccup continued. "You know who we should actually be thanking–?" Before he could reveal how he knew that, Stoick and Mildew appeared.

"Speaking of whom..." I muttered.

"There they are, Stoick! Those dragons don't look like they're in cages to me."

"No. This is not what I asked for."

From one moment to the other we were all gathered on the arena, when Stoick and Gobber approached us. This didn't look well.

"Oh, no! What's Stoick gonna do to us?" Fishlegs asked fearfully.

"I hope anything but locking us in a cell." I said.

"I'm too pretty for jail!" Ruffnut exclaimed.

"Ha, where'd you hear that?" Tuffnut asked and I actually wondered where did Ruff heard that.

"You all disobeyed my orders... and there will be consequences." Stoick said.

"I told you we were gonna get in trouble. Ugh, you never listen to me!" Astrid said.

"Dad, if anyone's going to get in trouble, it should be me." Hiccup said, ready to take all the responsibility.

"Nope. You all had a hand in this. You took over this place without asking. You released the dragons against my wishes. Things are going to change around here. That's why I–"

"You're getting a Dragon Training Academy!" Gobber cut him off and we all stared in shock at them.

"Gobber! I wanted to tell them!" Stoick cried.

Suddenly our confusion and shock was replaced by relief and happiness. "I'm sorry. You're right. Go ahead." Gobber apologized.

"Well, you told most of it!"

"You can tell him the part about how proud you are of them!"

"GOBBER! Hiccup– well, what he said. You've all made me proud. This Dragon Training Academy is for you." He pulled the lever and opened the cages releasing all the dragons.

"Hookfang! My buddy!"

 **"Good to see you, Snotlout!"**

"Hey, Stormfly! I missed you so much!"

 **"Oh! So I have Astrid!"**

"Meatlug! Oh, who's Daddy's little baby?"

 **"I'm Daddy's little baby!"**

"Hey, Toothless!" I yelled as both Hiccup and I ran towards him and then hugged him.

"Hey, bud!"

 **"Hey guys! Thanks for never giving up!"**

"Oh, I'll get those dragons yet." I heard Mildew say and I groaned in the inside.

"Now all you have to do is train 'em." Stoick said.

"Not a problem, Dad. After all, I've got him." Hiccup said referring to Toothless.

"Ah-hem?" Astrid and I said at the same time. Something was telling me she and I would get well along later on.

"And... _them_ , too." After that Hiccup drew all of his friends with their dragons on his notebook, and I was there too even I didn't have. The next day Hookfang and Meatlug were arranging the new sign on the new Academy: The Berk Dragon Training Academy.

"Berk Dragon Academy. I like the sound of that." Astrid said.

"You know what? Me too." I said as I leaned my elbow on Hiccup's shoulder and crossed my left leg in front of my right one. Hiccup smiled at me, before staring back at the academy.

* * *

 **PHEW! DONE!**

 **First thing, I realized after I wrote the chapter that supposedly The Gift of the Night Fury was released a year before the series, and Meatlug here is a girl while there she was considered a boy. So I'll write TGotNF too, but in this case it'll take place after RoB. I'm too lazy to change all of this just to fit with the other story I haven't even wrote down yet!**

 **Second, many of you guys reviewed about a sequel. Guess what, this is not. Kidding! This is the first chapter of my new story How to live a cartoon I– sequel of How to live a movie. And just for you to know, new OC characters will appear later on. That includes dragons as well! By the way, the profile picture of the story is Annabelle, I did the drawing myself.**

 **HOPE YOU LIKE IT! DON'T FORGET TO FAV, FOLLOW AND PLEASE REVIEW! UNTIL NEXT TIME!**

 **Scout017, out.**


	2. Viking for Hire

About a week later after we started the Dragon Training Academy, Hiccup proposed to give a review about what we knew from dragons. We were divided in two teams, my team consisted of Astrid and Fishlegs, the other team consisted of the twins and Snotlout. They were all mounted on dragons, and I was mounting Toothless, since I didn't have a dragon of my own. Hiccup was counting the points we were doing.

"Every dragon has its own unique abilities that give it its special place in the world. Which dragon makes the best welding torch?" He asked.

"Oh! Deadly Nadder!" Astrid replied exited.

"Its magnesium flame burns with the heat of the sun!" Fishlegs said. It surprised me a bit that even if night furies were like the best dragon and the most powerful, the hottest flame came from nadders. Who knew?

"Correct! Point to Team Astrid. Score is now 100 to 10."

"And you started with 10." I laughed.

"Oh, yeah? Well, the game's not over. Wait, what team am I on?" Tuffnut asked dumbly and I facepalmed.

"Next question. What is the shot limit of a Hideous Zippleback? Team Snotlout."

"I don't think they can count that high." Astrid whispered to my ear and I smirked.

"Oh, really? Let's find out! Barf! Belch!" Ruffnut ordered, shooting fireballs at us. We managed to duck just in time as the fireballs passed above our heads.

"Looks about three." Tuff said, holding up two fingers.

"Told you we could count that high!"

"It's six." Hiccup corrected. "You were half-right. Five points."

"Yes! We're up to 30!"

"Hey!" I said.

"Alright, it's our turn." I eye widened at Astrid's statement. This was not going to end well. "What happens when you shoot fire at the owner of a Deadly Nadder?" She whistled to her dragon, Stormfly, who shoot her tail spikes at the other team, pinning them to the wall.

"Oh God." I groaned.

"No fair! She didn't give us time to answer!" Tuffnut exclaimed, while Snotlout jumped down from the wall and walked towards us. I dismounted Toothless.

"I've got a question."

"No one wants to hear it!" I said trying to avoid this from going any further. "I think that for today that's enough. What ya say big boy?" I patted Hookgan's jaw, Snotlout's monstrous nightmare, but he set himself on fire burning my hand and Snotlout's butt.

"AH! THAT'S THE THIRD TIME THIS WEEK!" Snotlout yelled as he jumped into a nearby water tub, putting out his flamming butt. " _Aaaahhh_... sweet relief."

I looked from my hand to Hookfang and frowned. "Hookfang, are you alright?" I asked to him.

 **"Sorry for hurting you. I just felt a little pain when you touched me."** He apologized ashamed.

"But why?"

"What is he saying? Is he okay?" Hiccup asked confused.

"Maybe he just realized who his owner is." Astrid said sarcastically.

"There's room in here for two." Snotlout replied and Astrid grabbed his helmet before shoving him back underwater.

"Are you sure you're okay boy?" I touched him again and this time I was fast enough to get my hand off him. "No, you're not. Would you please open your mouth?"

 **"I'm not so sure. It hurts."**

"With more reason. Open up and wide please." He opened his mouth and I saw the problem. "Guys, would somebody let me a hook or something pointy?" They handed me a pin and I inserted it on his mouth, he yelled in pain making the others worry.

"What is she doing?" Fishlegs asked worried.

"She's hurting Hookfang!" Snotlout cried. "Get your hands of–" before he could finish I turned to face them. "Hookfang?"

"This is what was causing Hookfang act so weird." I held up the object on my hand. They all gasped.

"A bad tooth?" He asked in disbelief. I nodded. "Stop it. Stop it, can you train that out of him or...?" I patted Hookfang, but this time he nuzzled me and didn't flamed up. I smiled.

 _Later on..._

We were walking through the plaza and we saw a crowd surrounding Gobber. He was getting their attention, trying to...sell his weapons?

"Gather 'round! C'mon one n' all! Yeh may think these dragon-killin' weapons have no more use, but think again! This long sword is now a lovely butter knife!" He tried to give a demonstration with a slice of bread, but he just tore it to crumbs. "Eh...also good for makin' breadcrumbs." Suddenly the plate he was holding on his hand broke too. The audience was unimpressed. "Movin' on!"

"Well, this is a dark day." Mildew showed up besides Hiccup and I jumped. "Aw, did I scare you lass?"

I growled. "Not in the slightest."

"What do you mean by dark day?" Hiccup asked.

"Look at Gobber. A great dragon slayer peddling his weapons as kitchen utensils? Hm. Tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk." As much as I hated to admit it, the grumpy old man was right.

"Up next, how 'bout this..." He held a mace and a fly passed by. "...handy flyswatter?" The fly landed on a table and Gobber brought the mace down, smashing the table into pieces. The fly flew away. "Hehe, also good for gettin' rid of unwanted tables." He walked over a catapult.

"Now, for the lady of the house! When the hubby's off pillagin', how are ye goin' to protect yerself from home invaders? No problem when ye have Big Bertha!" Suddenly the catapult hurled a stone into a house, and the crowd started to back away. Gobber tried to get their attention back, but they were already gone.

"Hey, wai'! There's more, come back! Ye haven't seen everythin' yet! I haven't cleared out my dungeon yet!" He gave up when he saw nodoby was listening anymore and he patted the catapult, like if it had feelings. "It's okay, Bertha. We'll find a place for ya."

"Ah, it's hard to watch. Especially for you, eh, Hiccup? The feelings of guilt must be tearing at your insides. I mean, you put him out of business with your little peace pact with the dragons. You ruined his life. _Bravo_."

"I will ruin your life if you happen to hurt any of my friends." I threatened him pointing my index finger at him.

 _At night..._

We were in Hiccup's room with Toothless, and he couldn't stop thinking about what happened with Gobber. He sighed.

"You guys know Gobber made this for me? He taught me everything I needed to know to make Toothless' tail. I've gotta find some way to help him."

"I know you will Hiccup, just as you helped Toothless fly again." I smiled. We went downstairs and Stoick sat down on a chair groaning.

"Tough day of chiefing, Dad?"

"I was all over the island." Stoick replied tired. "I married the Svensson girl to the Odegaard boy at dawn. Then down to the fields where some kids were tipping over yaks." While he talked, Hiccup brought him a mug of ale. "Then back to the newlyweds to settle a domestic dispute. Guess honeymoon's over." He drank of his mug. "Sometimes I wish there were two of me."

Hiccup stopped what he was doing and looked at his father. "Dad, there are two of you!" I looked at him. What did he mean? Did Stoick had brothers at all or what did I miss?

Stoick was clearly irritated by this comment. "Is this another crack about my weight?!"

"No, I mean Gobber. _He_ can be the other you."

"Gobber?" Stoick seemed to consider it. "Well, he's way too busy making all those dragon killing... Well, used to be. Until you... Which is great! Except for Gobber."

"Exactly my point!" Hiccup replied.

"You know, that's actually not such a bad idea. I could use a right hand." He considered and Hiccup managed to joke.

"Which works out great, 'cause that's kind of the only one he has." I rolled my eyes at first, but then I laughed. We had dinner and before we went to sleep something over Hiccup's desk caught my attention. They were the same old drawings once I saw last time I was here. I admired them again and sighed.

"What's wrong?' Hiccup asked.

"Hiccup... How do you feel each time you see Toothless?" Said dragon lifted his head when heard someone saying his name.

"Oh, well... I couldn't be what I am if he wasn't by my side. He's the best friend I could ask for." He scratched Toothless and then he realized what he just said, again. "I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "Don't worry. I get your point." I said turning back to a drawing of a deathly nadder, passing my finger through the lines.

"Why did you ask?" I breathed deep before turning to him.

"Do you think you could show me how to train a dragon?" I asked. He blinked in shock.

"What?"

"Hiccup I want so bad to have someone at my side. I know I have Toothless but his your dragon Hiccup, just like you're his rider. We can't go both of us on him every time we want to fly. Am I wrong?"

"I just...don't know what to say. A-Are you sure you want to train a dragon?" I nodded. "Okay then, that's great! We just got one little problem. What kind of dragon would you like to train?"

"Um..."

* * *

The next day we gathered at the Great Hall to read on the book of dragons any dragon I would like. Hiccup wanted to help me and told the other teens to come too. I thanked him.

"Thanks for coming guys. I really appreciate what you're doing for me."

"Yeah. Whatever." Snotlout said. "Let's just get on with it. The sooner we start, the sooner we leave." I rolled my eyes.

We went through all the pages from the book, the hours went by and by the end of the day I was between three dragons, but either of them seemed very good options.

The first option was a Whispering Death. I loved the spikes and I admired the way it shoot fire. Also I liked that it could live underground, and it was a boulder class. But from what I've noticed on the drawings, it seemed to be blind. So that could mean that they would not like the sunlight and that would explain why they live underground.

The second option was a Deathly Nadder. It was my favorite dragon from them all. Like I said before, I like the spikes and from what I've seen with Stormfly, it was easy to train one. It was a sharp class. The only problem was that from what I've heard, all of them had an owner and there were no much hatchlings nowadays.

The third option was even more complicated. It was a strange purple dragon named Skrill. Instead of fire, it shoot bolts and lightning. It could go at super sonic speeds, and it was a strike class. The problem with this dragon was very aggressive and it only showed in thunder storms. So it was nearly impossible.

Fishlegs was explaining something about a dragon named Thunderdrum or something like that, but I wasn't paying too much attention. I was exhausted from all the reading. I sighed.

"Fishlegs, please. Just stop." He paused and they all looked at me. I rubbed my forehead and stretched my arms. "Thanks guys, but it seems it was a waste of time."

"Wait, what?" Tuffnut asked. He wasn't paying attention.

"I'm sorry for taking your time–"

"And you should be!" Snotlout exclaimed.

"Snotlout!" Astrid scolded.

"No, no. He's right Astrid." Astrid gave me a blank expression.

"Of course I'm right, Astrid." Snotlout said crossing his arms, until the words finally clicked in. "Wait, what?"

"This was all for naught." I stood up and began to leave, when I felt a hand holding mine. I looked back and it was Hiccup.

"Annabelle, hold on. Don't give up so easily, maybe if we keep reading some more you'll find a dragon that you like."

"No Hiccup. I don't want to keep on with this. Guess I'll just have to accustom to walk. See you later on training." He let me go and I leaved the Great Hall, not before I heard a _BANG!_ and a yelp from Snotlout. I cracked a small grin, then I walked away.

 _At evening..._

Stoick placed two blocks of ice on his head, trying to ease his headache. Hiccup handed him a mug of ale.

"Here you go, Dad." Hiccup said. "Wow. A two-block headache. You know, Dad, I think you're being a wee bit rough on Gobber. It was his first day. Tomorrow will be way better."

"Oh, it will be for me. Because it _won't_ involve Gobber." Stoick said, Hiccup gave him a confused look.

"What do you mean?"

Stoick removed the ice blocks from his head. "He tried to fit a square peg in a round hole, and it sunk a ship and named a baby girl Magnus! I'm not saying she didn't look like a Magnus, but try telling that to her parents."

"I can't believe you let him go! Well, we've got to help him!"

" _We_ don't have to do anything. _You_ , on the other hand, are going to be very busy finding a job for Gobber."

Hiccup paled a bit. Unknown to them that I've had heard their conversation from the stairs. A baby girl named Magnus? When did that happened? Huh, and my cousin claimed that _his_ name was Jacklin.

* * *

The next day when I woke up Toothless and Hiccup were already awake, again. Honestly I didn't know how could they have so much energy. I served myself a bowl of cereal and Hiccup noticed me.

"Anna, come on!" He said mounting Toothless. "We're gonna be late. We have to be there before Gobber does!"

I turned at him chewing and I swallowed. "You guys go ahead. I told you. I'm used to walk, I'll be there soon."

"Anna–"

"Hiccup." I cut him off and he sighed. He patted Toothless and they leaved. I sighed too. How I wished to train a dragon.

About an hour later I arrived there. Hiccup was saying something and all I could hear was, "...if we can tap into that, we'll all be better dragon riders." I gasped when he said that and ran to them.

"Dragon Riders? Where?!" I asked but I didn't notice them jump when they heard me. "Where did you saw them? Did two of them have either yellow hair almost white and ice blue eyes or sleek hair and light-blue eyes?" I looked at them hopefully, but they looked completely puzzled. My smiled dropped and so my hopes. "...you don't have any idea of what am I talking about, do you?"

They shook their heads and I sighed. Turns out my older brother's gang, Dallas, was called "Dragon riders." Don't ask why. I was so used to see them at night, that I thought it was them, but Hiccup was talking about themselves.

"Doesn't matter." I said. Suddenly Gobber came in lugging a cart full of weapons.

"I'm back! Did ya miss me?"

 **"Are those swords?"** Stormfly sniffled.

 **"Those look very sharp to my like."** Meatlug, Fishlegs' gronkle, said nervously.

 **"He's here to kill us!"** Hookfang cried.

I noticed the dragons were clearly intimidated and I approached them to calm them down, but they were panicking.

Hiccup noticed they were all backing away in fear and he walked cautiously to Gobber. "First of all, welcome. And second... tiny question, why did you bring your, you know...?"

"Killin' things?" Gobber guessed. "I thought maybe we could train them...by threatenin' to kill 'em. That's how my daddy taught me ta swim." He slammed in the earth a strange weapon that seemed a sword mixed with a mace and axe. "School's in session!"

 **"Run!"**

 **"Fly!"**

 **"Leave!"**

All the dragons flew off frightened, except for Toothless. The others had to go after them, but Gobber seemed to be missing the point. "Eh. I didn't like school either."

Hours later, the gang finally returned on the backs of their dragons, however they were all groaning in pain. "What's wrong with you guys?" Hiccup asked, not getting why did they seem so tired and exhausted.

"We've been riding our dragons for four hours." Astrid groaned and stretched her back, as I winced. I could swear I heard her back crack. "It took forever to chase them down after Gobber scared them away."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I just don't know what to do with him..." We then saw Ruffnut kicking her brother's butt. "Do you guys always have to fight?"

"It's okay. I asked her to do that." Tuffnut replied. "I was just trying to get the feeling back." I mouthed an 'ow'. Ruffnut then bent down too, waiting for her brother.

"You're gonna return the favor or what?"

"I've flown for hours on Toothless and I've never had a problem." Hiccup said.

"That's because you have a saddle." Astrid pointed out.

"Saddles!" Hiccup exclaimed, getting an idea. I rolled my eyes. _Oh great, here we go again._ I shook my head.

 _Later on..._

"Saddles?" Gobber repeated. Hiccup had just told him about making saddles for the riders, and Gobber was thinking about it. "I love it! I've got so many ideas!" Hiccup showed him some of his designs, but he tossed them away. "Not like these, _good_ ones."

 _Excuse me?_ , I thought. The very first saddle ever made for a dragon, and the only one so far, was made by Hiccup and me! With our own hands! How could he dare to say that?

"I'm glad you're excited." Hiccup smiled. "But I still think there are some things in my designs you could use. I mean, you did teach me everything I know." He said.

"Exactly. That's why you should let Gobber do what Gobber does best. I've been making saddles since you were in diapers. In fact, I made your diapers." I raised my both eyebrows. Okay, that was something I didn't need to know. I'll add it to the list of things I didn't need to know but now I do.

"I know you know what you're doing. But keep in mind, every dragon is different. So you need to adjust the–"

"Hiccup." Gobber cut him off.

"But–"

"Hiccup."

"I just think–"

"Hiccup. I may have taught you everything you know, but I haven't taught you everything I know." That was all he need to say for us to leave him do what he could. From a mile away, Hiccup, Toothless and I heard Gobber singing.

" _I've got my axe and I've got my mace, and I love my wife with the ugly face! I'm a Viking through and through! Hmmm!_ "

"You know, he doesn't sing that song unless he's actually very happy. I think we did a good thing."

"Right. But what kind of song is that one?"

"I don't know."

* * *

The next day we were all gathered at the academy again, waiting for Gobber to show up.

"Alright, this is an exciting day for all of us. Gobber has been working hard to-"

"I think might want to hear from the artist himself." Gobber interrupted as he walked in and Hiccup let him speak. "I've made a lot of saddles in my day. Horse, donkey and now, dragon. But these saddles are special. They're like my children; that is if you strapped your child to a flaming reptile and rode it. So without further ado-"

When we saw the saddles I didn't know how to react. However, the others were really impressed at the saddles, except for Hiccup who knew this was not what he thought.

"Wow Gobber. This is certainly not what I imagined."

"How could it be? I'm Gobber! Nobody knows what it's like to live in here." He used his hammer-hand to tap his helmet. _Well, that's something we have in common,_ I thought. _Nobody knows what's going on here as well, right Sabrina?_

She giggled and I smiled.

All the saddles seem not to be what everybody was expecting. Astrid's one seemed the best, until she blew up a telescope-like horn what startled Stormfly, causing her to shoot spines unintentionally at Snotlout and pin him to the wall, again.

"Really? Again?" He asked incredulously and I placed a hand on my face.

"So, anyway," Hiccup said. "I-I think we're really gonna need to make a few-"

"Changes!" Gobber guessed. "I'm way ahead of you. I've got so many ideas! It's gettin' crowded up here." He tapped his helmet with his hammer.

We shared a look before I sighed. "I'm getting Snotlout out of that wall."

 _At afternoon..._

Hiccup was finishing cleaning up, and I was leaning my back on a wall waiting for him, while I read the Book of Dragons again. I asked Fishlegs for it, and I wanted to see if I could this time change of mind. Stoick entered looking surprised.

"My Odin!" He said. That sounded much like 'my God'. "This place looked better when we were killing dragons here!"

"Yeah, we sort of got 'Gobbered'." Hiccup answered, while he paused to face his father.

"Well, you know Gobber. He means well, he just doesn't always do well. So what are you going to do about him?"

"I'm gonna clean up his messes and re-do his work."

"Hiccup you can't keep on with this." I said from my place.

"But Annabelle, he's like family! I can't say anything to him."

"No, son," Stoick replied, placing a hand on his son's shoulder. "That's why you _have_ to. It's not fair to you and it's not fair to Gobber." Wow. If my mother ever gave me a suggestion, how much fights we would have saved.

"Why do I have to say something to him?!" Hiccup cried. "You didn't! You just passed him off to me!

"That's what the chief does, he delegates..." He glared at him. "Look, I gave you this Academy becuase it's the best thing for Berk. Now you have to do what's best for the Academy. I'm sorry son, but what's best is very rarely what's easy." He then noticed Snotlout still hanging on the wall, snoring. "What about him?"

"Don't worry. He's going for a record." I said.

 _At night..._

We went to Gobber's workshop to try and get some sense through him. Hiccup was holding a torch.

"Hey, you never know." Hiccup told us. "Maybe Gobber finally looked at my plans and is actually making the saddles better." In that moment there was an explosion and the torch went off. Toothless and I gave Hiccup a look. "Or not. Gobber?"

We walked towards him but he turned around pointing at us with a crossword and we raised our hands in protection.

"Don't shoot!" I yelled.

"I would never shoot yeh two." He said, then he thought. "Unless I absolutely had to."

"Hehe, yeah. Still, if you could please put the crossbow down, I know I'd feel better." I nodded. He put the crossword away and he talked to us.

"Ya know, about tha weapons, maybe tha catapults were a bit much for some of the dragons yesterday. So I've gone a different way. I've gotten rid of tha two big ones." He said walking towards a table and I smiled. Maybe things were going fine after all–

"Gobber that's great!"

"And replaced 'em with six little ones!" He exclaimed as he presented us a smaller catapult and I facepalmed.

"Yeah, um, Gobber we need to talk. Uh, I think it might be time for you to take a little break."

"In case you hadn't noticed, the only time a Vikin' takes a break is ta die." Gobber reminded. I blinked, so when these guys had rest? I wouldn't survive school if vacations didn't exist.

"Maybe break is the wrong word. What he meant is, we're not sure things are working out." I said, wondering if Gobber got the message this time.

"Well, get back ta me when you're sure." Gobber was clearly missing the point, again. And it didn't really surprised me.

"Okay, I'm sure. Gobber, I'm gonna need to take you off the saddle project." Hiccup finally said. Gobber then understood what was going on.

"Are ye gettin' rid of me, Hiccup? Now I see why you had me put down tha crossbow."

"It's just the saddles!" Hiccup said quickly. "We'll find something else for ya."

"I don't need yer pity. I've lost an arm n' a leg. I think I'll survive losin' a job."

"I'm really sorry." Hiccup said apologetically to him, but we knew it didn't make feel Gobber any better. When we got out of there we both sighed, there was a heavy feeling in our gut. Guilt.

"That was...awful. Can anything be worse than that?" I asked. There was a lot of noise and screams of a sudden and I facepalmed, again. _I just had to say that._

"Okay, it looks like we're about to find out." We mounted Toothless and ran to them. Yes, I mounted Toothless this time.

"I never... thought... I'd say this... but Hiccup... HELP!" Snotlout cried shaking Hiccup from his shoulders as we arrived where the problem was.

"Snotlout, stop!" I said pulling him away from my boyfr- I mean, from Hiccup. Heh, heh.

~ _Ooh_ ~

Don't even think about it.

"Everybody back away! A dragon's out of control! It's not safe here!" Stoick told everybody. We arrived just in time and what we found was breathtaking.

A whole different species of dragon was right in front of our noses. It had a number of small flukes and neck with one large fin. It had membranous wings that resembled fins. The body was mostly greenish-blue, the belly was blue, while the dorsals where light blue and highlighted in purple. It had pink eyes and mouth.

"What the?!" I said in shock.

"Okay, okay. Fishlegs, any idea of what type of dragon is this?" Hiccup called.

"I'm sorry to say that there's nothing about something like it in the Book of Dragons." He said fearfully, getting closer to his dragon.

"Why is it acting like that? What is causing it to be so...aggressive?"

I tried to listen for a voice or anything but there was many noise and I couldn't concentrate. "Sorry, I can't tell."

The dragon bitted a barrel, smashing to pieces and then it roared. What was more surprising was the fact that volt of electricity ran down its spine and at the end of the throat there was no fire, instead there was more sparkles of electricity. This remembered me of the Skrill.

"Maybe it's hungry." Fishlegs noticed. Hiccup grabbed a fish and walked carefully towards the dragon, getting its attention. He offered the fish and placed it at the floor, the he backed away. The dragon snatched it with the tail from which sparkles jumped and then swallowed the fish, then roared louder.

Then I felt something familiar, I remembered something similar... That movement with the tail. Something told me that I knew this dragon, but from where?

Okay Sabrina, help me. Time to think, when was the last time something weird happened?

~ _You called "funny" a clown that could make no one laugh one week after you were out of school_ ~

No, before that. Try to think like the last time I was here, did something happened that wasn't supposed to? Did something disappeared?

~ _Do you remember when you got fish for Toothless the first time? Hiccup brought two fish and you fed Toothless only one. Where did the other went?~_

Unless Toothless ate it, something must have snatched it. Hold on... _Snatched_. I looked at the dragon, snatch the fish...with the tail.

~ _And remember the time that Toothless was scared because of the eel? It was like if something moved through the water...~_

Wait, this dragon had dorsal fins, and it snatched the fish with the tail. Could that mean...?

I gasped in realization, this was what I heard at the cove that time! Those "bubbles" I heard was this dragon, meaning it could swim. If it could swim, it was then a Tidal class! But what was a Tidal class dragon doing here? Especially this dragon, since it was supposed to be at the pond of the cove.

"I don't think this thing is hungry." Astrid said.

"We've got to bring this dragon under control." Stoick said, and he was running out of patience. But also we were running out of ideas.

"Don't worry. I can do this." Hiccup said confidently. He walked towards the dragon and extended a hand, trying to reach for it. "There you go. It's gonna be okay." But when he managed to touch it the dragon roared and tried to snatch his hand.

"Hiccup, run!" Astrid advised.

"Way ahead of you!" Toothless ran and tried to attack the dragon, but Hiccup stopped him.

"I've seen enough, Hiccup. I'm sorry. We tried it your way." Stoick said and he leaved. I had an idea of why he ran, but now I had to focus on the actual situation.

Okay, if this thing's not hungry, what else could it be? Was it angered? Well, now it was. Why? If only I could hear it, if it let me.

 **"Don't touch me! Don't you understand it hurts?"**

I eye widened and snapped my head so fast that I almost cracked my neck. It was a girl.

"Come on, guys! Hurry up! Think! What haven't we tried?" Hiccup asked calling the others. Everybody had their back turned, so I got a chance to–

~ _Hold on. Are you planning what I'm thinking your planning?_ ~

Yep.

~ _Have you lost your mind?_ ~

Probably.

I walked slowly towards her, gaining her attention. I extended a hand and she almost roared at me, but I placed a finger on my lips indicating her to stay quiet. She was so intrigued that she did. Then I gestured with my hands to calm down and that everything was okay.

 **"What do you want?"**

"I'm not gonna hurt you." I said in a low voice and the dragon was slightly startled. I must get accustomed to this. "I can understand you, and I gonna help you."

 **"How?"**

"Tell me, why are you acting so aggressive?"

 **"I'm not trying to hurt anybody, except for the ones that hurt me. If you touch me, I'll hurt you."**

"Why? I mean, what have I done to you?"

 **"When you touch my head, there's a pain that I can't get rid off."**

"In your head?"

 **"In my jaw."**

I gasped. I believed I knew what was her problem. But a voice brought me back to reality.

"...I came here to do wha' I do best." Oh-oh. I turned around and Gobber was walking towards us. She noticed the blacksmith and backed away when she saw him holding a sword.

 **"That's a viking? He'll kill me!"** She cried in fear.

"No, he's not gonna kill you." I said, but Tuffnut appeared.

"Uh, yeah, he is."

"You don't use that stuff to butter toast." Ruffnut pointed out and I glared at them.

"Well, I mean, we would, but you don't."

"Guys, I'm trying to calm her down, I don't need you to make her more afraid than she already is! She's only defensive!" I explained. "You can't be serious, Stoick!"

"I'm sorry, lass, but sometimes ya have to fall back on the old ways." Gobber said.

"But she's a good dragon. There's just something wrong with her. We have to help her. We can't just get rid of her because she's having a bad day."

"A bad day for a dragon can be a disaster for us." Stoick said without any expression. "That's not a risk I am willing to take. Gobber."

Gobber nodded with a determined look on his face. He trew a bola to her and tied her wings and legs together. He smiled pleased, but I couldn't let him do it. "No! Please!" I ran to him and grabbed his arm, forcing it down.

"There's no choice." He said, trying to get me off but I held on tight. "Lass, I'm sorry. It has to be done."

"No! I know another way, just let me–" The dragon roared at us and we both saw the problem. "There! See that?" He nodded at me and I let go of his arm, then he tossed away his sword and I felt a great relief.

"Time to put this beas' out of its misery." Gobber said.

"What are you doing?" Astrid asked but I showed up a hand so she paused. Gobber jumped to her head and then he fell to the ground, but when he sat up he held a bad tooth on his hand.

"You didn't kill her." Hiccup said.

"Fer a toothache? Wha' kind of lunatic are ya?"

"That's what I was trying to tell you!" I said waving my hands. "She was only defensive. Right, girl?" The dragon walked towards me.

 **"Thank you for helping me."** She said happy and I grinned at her.

"No problem." I raised a hand and to my surprise she placed her snout against it. Then she walked closer to me and nuzzled me, she even licked me. "H-hey! What are you doing?" I giggled. The gang walked to me, and they all had smiles on their faces. I frowned at them, something was going on here. "What is it?" I asked.

"Well... You know, she looks very happy besides you." Fishlegs said.

"She could really be a great company when you're alone, or when you need a friend." Astrid continued.

"And you two could be a great team with a little of training." Hiccup finished.

I eye widened. "You think...?" I couldn't finish the sentence and they nodded at me. I looked back at the dragon and she chirped happily. I smiled and ran to hug her, she nuzzled me back lovingly. "Now you need a name. And since you shoot lighting instead of fire, how about Thora? In honor to Thor the God of Lightning?"

 **"That's perfect."**

"Thora...the Shockjaw."

"Shockjaw?" Snotlout asked.

"That's her dragon species. I named her."

"Ooh! That'll definitely go in the Book of Dragons!" Fishlegs exclaimed as he ran to the Great Hall, Meatlug following behind.

"Thank you, Gobber. A bad tooth, I can't believe I didn't think of that." Hiccup said.

"Tha's because you're not Gobber!" Gobber said. "I've forgotten more 'bout dragons than most men will ever know. Well, better go put the girls away."

Hiccup and I shared a look, and we both had the same thought. "Gobber, not so fast!"

 _The next day..._

Gobber began his work as a dragon dentist at his workshop. Finally he had found something he was good at. He was so happy you could hear him singing a mile or two away. _"I've got my axe and I've got my mace, and I love my wife with the ugly face! I'm a Viking through and throouugghh!"_

As for me, I began to train with Thora at the Academy, and fortunately we all got saddles of our own. Made by ourselves. I had to admit I love been a truly dragon rider, and I couldn't wait to come back and see Dallas face when I told him I was a dragon rider. Would you imagine the look of his face?

* * *

 **I'm gonna be honest with you guys. This is the THIRD time I write down the chapter. My internet crashed and then the webpage updated, not saving my work done. It was hard to get it finished, but here it is. PLEASE REVIEW!**

 **Oh, by the way, meet Thora the Shockjaw! My first OC character besides Annabelle to meet the HTTYD guys! The Shockjaw is a dragon from the HTTYD wiki and the game Rise of Berk, I didn't make it up. Wait for more OC characters later on the story, that includes dragons as well!**

 **I may be very frequent publishing the first chapters since I've spent a lot of time in them on vacations, but I can't say when they'll be out exactly. So be sure to follow and fav this story so you won't miss anything!**

 **I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT! Until next time...**

 **Scout017, out.**


	3. Animal House

I woke up colder than usual. Yes, two weeks in here was all I need to get accustomed to the climate that was colder than home, but today was even colder. I opened my eyes and wrapped myself with my blanket, then lay on the bed again hoping I'll get some sleep, but I know I couldn't now. I groaned and sat on the bed, yawning and stretching. A blue scaled animal walked towards me, leaving a little trace of water when she walked.

 **"Rise and shine, sleepy head."** The dragon said as she nudged me with her head, gently.

"Hello Thora." I said and hugged her, then I changed my pajamas for my clothes and went downstairs. It had been a week and half since I met her. Hiccup said that our bond was impressive and it was true, we were like best friends, like sisters. And my ability to understand dragons made things even better.

We found Hiccup eating a bowl of cereal and Toothless was eating a basket full of fish.

"Morning, boys." I said.

"Morning." Hiccup replied, looking up from his cereal to me.

 **"Morning."** Toothless replied too, looking from the basket to me, then he looked at Thora. **"Morning Thora."**

Thora walked up to Toothless and I gave her another basket full of fish. **"Morning Toothless, thank you Anna."**

"You're welcome." Then I looked at the floor and saw Thora had wet her paws, what meant that the whole floor was wet. "Oh. Sorry for the..." I gestured to the floor and Hiccup shrugged.

"It's okay. She's a Tidal Class, she needs to live in a home with water." He reminded.

"Yeah. By the way, thanks for the pool you did for her outside the house." I thanked as I served myself a bowl of cereal.

Hiccup smiled and finished his breakfast, then walked towards me and I looked at him. "Um, Toothless and I were wondering...if you want to...you know. Go and have a little fun, at the mountain."

I swallowed another spoon of cereal, then I stood up. "Yeah, sure! What ya say girl?" I asked her and she grinned excitedly.

 **"I'm on it!"**

"Okay, then let's go!" I said. I opened the door and got out but before Hiccup could get out, I felt the cold wind blowing and instantly went in. "Cold cold cold cold cold!" I said hugging myself and trembling. "Holy cats, that's cold!"

"Really?" He got out and returned like if nothing. "I don't feel anything."

"That's b-because you're a viking." I said with a deadpan. Toothless came closer to me and I felt a bit warmer. "Thanks T-Toothless."

Hiccup placed a hand on his chin thinking before he got an idea. "Would you wait here for a couple of minutes? I think I have just the thing..."

"Fine for me. As long as I stay here..." I said and he nodded.

"Be back in few." He said and walked outside. How could he not feel the cold? It's not like he was Jack Frost or anything, and for me the typical "we're vikings" wasn't enough. I continued eating my cereal, when Toothless looked up to see his rider walking out. He then looked at me and tilted his head to his side.

 **"So... when are you gonna tell him?"** Toothless asked of a sudden and I turned to him confused.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. Thora walked towards us.

 **"What's going on?"** She asked and Toothless looked at her as I ate another spoon of cereal.

 **"Oh, right. You don't know.** **Hiccup and Anna are mates."** He smirked. I almost choked with my cereal in shock. I swallowed hard and I felt the food going rough and hard down my throat and when I could breathe again I looked at them with large eyes and gaped. I could not hide my embarrassment. **"I bet she knows, since she's bright red."**

Thora smiled and giggled while I blushed furiously and drank a cup of water.

 **"Are they planning to have any hatchlings?"** She asked curiously to Toothless. I spitted the water all over the table and wiped my mouth with my hand. Both dragons looked at me. I stood up and turned to face them.

"Guys, nothing's happening yet. We're not even a couple! We're not even dating or something, and probably it'll stay like this until he asks me. And that's if I say yes."

Nobody need to be smart enough to know I would say yes when he asked me. They deadpanned at me and I sighed. Who was I kidding?

Suddenly Hiccup returned with a box.

"Here you go." He said and he handled me the box. I smiled thankfully but Thora and Toothless began to mock me and I slightly blushed. Hiccup was confused, since he couldn't understand what were they saying. "What's wrong with them?"

"No idea." I said quickly and focused on the box. I opened it and gasped when I saw what was inside, then I grabbed the item and unfolded it, to stare at it. It was a dark blue cloak, with a furred hoodie on the inside. "Whoa. How did you managed...?"

"I found it forgotten between some of Gobber stuff, so I supposed... Um, if you don't want it, I can return–"

Before he noticed I had it already on. It was warm and beautiful, and I loved the fur. The color was not my favorite, but I liked it anyway. "I love it."

"You do?" I nodded as I gave a turn. "Okay, should we go then?" He offered me a hand and since no one else was watching, I accepted it.

We mounted our dragons backs and raced way down the snowy mountain. Boy, I was glad that I was wearing the cloak, it was as cold as the authentic Antartica! On the other hand, Hiccup was wearing nothing more than his harness, his normal clothes and his fur vest. But he seemed perfectly fine.

I was winning at the moment, but eventually Hiccup and Toothless would catch up with us. We were at the lead and they followed us. We zigzagged and jumped, landing on the mountain and continued sliding.

I looked back at them and gained an idea. Thora sank her tail on the snow while sliding, and snow jumped right at Hiccup's face. However he managed to move.

"Whoa! Hey, Anna!"

"Oops, did I do that?" I placed a hand on my chest and asked innocently, then I turned back and laughed. Hiccup furrowed his eyebrows as he and Toothless sped up, then the night fury extended his wing and blocked my view. "Hey, no fair!" I cried trying to look under and above it, but I couldn't. Finally when he retracted, I couldn't avoid that tree and ended up with my face covered in snow.

"So it's gonna be that way, huh?" I asked.

 **"You started first!"** Toothless warbled and I glared at him.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Hiccup said. I smirked back and Thora blasted at a rock, making them loose control and spin wildly for some seconds.

"It was her idea, but I approved!" I yelled back.

Hiccup smiled softly at me. Sadly I didn't know what he was thinking...but a noise got him out of his train of thought. Our race had caused an avalanche, and it was quickly catching with us. Something Hiccup said made me gasp.

"Toothless' tail's frozen!" He yelled as he moved from his saddle towards the fin, trying in a pathetic attempt to open it.

"Thora, sky!" I ordered. We took off, then flew towards them and I extended a hand for Hiccup to take. "Hold on!" I yelled.

"No! Go back!" He yelled back.

"There's no way I'm leaving you!" I said determined. We managed to hold hands for some seconds, but the force of the avalanche made us fall, and we screamed while we fell from the cliff.

I opened my eyes and discovered that Thora used her own body to protect me, wrapping her own wings over me. "Thora?" I asked and she opened them, letting me see her. I could only see her eyes and her mouth though, since they were pink and we were in complete darkness. "Are you okay?" I asked concerned.

 **"I'm fine."** She replied as she got up. **"Are you hurt?"** I shook my head as I rubbed my arms to keep warm.

"No. But where's Hiccup?" I asked the last to myself. "Hiccup?" I asked out loud, and felt my breath become steam from the cold.

"I'm here." A voice replied out of nowhere. It was him, and it sounded nearby. I crawled where he was sat supposedly and we hugged. "Where are the dragons?" He asked. Then there was a purple burst of light for a second.

"Toothless?" Hiccup asked.

 **"Yep. Wait up..."**

Then there was another blue light and it lasted 2 more seconds than the other.

"Thora?" I asked.

 **"Hold on, you guys."**

The dragons tried this again, when finally the ice melted. They created a hole, where light passed through. The dragons seemed to be using their wings to do some kind of shelter, protecting us from all the snow.

"I see daylight!" Hiccup exclaimed. He stared at our surroundings, admiring how our dragons protected us. Then we noticed how close we were and we got apart from each other, both blushing from embarrassment. "Um... So, w-we're good now?" He stuttered.

"Yeah, good and..." I looked at him from the corner of my eye, and I saw Hiccup rubbing his arms like mad. I stared at my cloak that he gave me, grabbed part of it and smelled it, it had an unique scent, a scent I would recognize anywhere I went. I grabbed more of my cloak, before wrapping it over the viking-boy.

"Come here, you." I said, smiling gently. "We don't want you to turn into a popsicle."

"T-thanks." He said shivering, looking at me and smiling.

"Thanks to you." I replied. Hiccup's cheeks turned a bit pink, as he turned to one side of the ice cave they were in. Then he looked once more at the dragons that were with us. He still couldn't believe what they did, their natural instincts just kicked in. **(A/N: lol I just noticed it rhymes XD)**

"Look what they did. They saved our lives." He noticed.

 **"We'll always protect our own."** Toothless answered simply, with a caring voice as he stared at both of us.

 **"And you're our humans."** Thora continued with the same caring voice. **"Kinda like our brother and sister."** She said.

"Thanks guys." I gave a singled nod at them.

Unfortunately, we had to wait until another hour so they could go back at the village. In that time, I got bored since there was nothing to do, and subconsciously rested my head on his shoulder. He blushed within me noticing, but then I realized what I just did and quickly moved away.

"Uh, sorry." I apologized as I readjusted the cloak over us.

"Um...n-no. It's okay." He said. "You can sleep if you want, we'll be here for a while. So..." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, although he sounded calm. Then I did something unexpected to both of us, I gave him a peck on the cheek. It was so gentle, so softly and so calm. He just eye widened and his cheeks turned red.

 _You look cute when you look surprised._ I thought. After that I felt my eyelids weigh 1,000 pounds, and I yawned. I just remember that I leaned my head against him again, then nothing more.

When I opened my eyes, I recognized a green shoulder, part from Hiccup's shirt. I lifted my head and looked at Hiccup, who was hugging me against him with one arm. With the other, he was directing Toothless. He looked down at me.

"Hi." I said, still a bit asleep.

"Hi. Sleep well?"

"Yes." Then I frowned when a question rose to my mind. "Where's Thora?"

"She's right behind us." Before I could ask anything else Hiccup continued. "Um...I didn't want to wake you up, you seemed really tired and when the ice finally melted..."

"You weren't cold?" Was all I could ask, tying not to stop on the details, rubbing my eyes with my fist. Dear God, why did I had to fall asleep?

"Not after you wrapped the cloak around me too. I'm glad I gave you that cloak." He said.

When we arrived to Berk, the gang was worried about us. We explained everything since our race to the part the dragons protected us.

"...And then the dragons used their wings to block the snow." Hiccup finished.

"I've never heard of anything like that. Not even in the Book of Dragons." Fishlegs said amazed. _Of course you wouldn't, the Book of Dragons is practically: Extremely dangerous, Kill on sight_. I thought.

"Who'd believe it? The dragons we fought for years came to our rescue."

"Yeah, if it weren't for them, we would've frozen to death...just like Anna." I realized.

"Why do you talk in third person?" Fishlegs asked.

"What do you mean I talk in third person? Oh...right. Forget it." God, they don't know about FROZEN. At some point I'll have to make them watch movies.

~ _And how would you do that? There's no cinema or projector in this age.~_

Thanks Sabrina. You ruined the moment.

"You know what? You could've used your own bodies to keep each other warm." Fishlegs said and we looked away from each other.

"Who would do that?"

"Yeah, I mean. Seriously?"

"Hey, Annabelle." Snotlout called me. "If you're still cold..."

I held up a hand. "Save it." Was all I said and Astrid smiled.

"Hey Hiccup." A voice said. The twins were on Barf and Belch standing behind us. "Your father's looking for you." Tuff said.

"He looked angry." Ruff added.

"He's looked angry since the day I was born." I raised an eyebrow. "But I'm sure there's no connection." He mounted Toothless and flew off.

"Wait up!" I yelled as I got on Thora and followed them.

* * *

"There's a bad storm coming." Stoick explained us. "We could be locked in. We might not be able to hunt or fish for months!"

"How do you know a storm is coming?" I asked raising an eyebrow and placing a hand on my hip, as I leaned my weight on one of my legs.

"Well, Bucket's...bucket...gets tighter when a storm is coming." Stoick explained. I furrowed both my eyebrows, my lips turning in a shape of a small 'o'.

"But that makes no sense! How can you trust a bucket? Maybe you could when the elders knees pain, or that's what my mother taught me. But you can't trust in a _bucket_!"

"Exactly. That's what I thought. So I went to Gothi."

"What did she said?"

"She could hear Bucket's screams from her house. So that being said, apparently we have to trust the bucket." Stoick decreed and I sighed.

"But it's way too early for a storm." Hiccup replied analyzing what they were telling him. "We're in the middle of winter! Devastating Winter isn't due for another month!"

I looked at him incredulously. " _Devastating_ winter?" I emphasized the first word. "Really?"

He shrugged and raised his hands. "Well, what am I supposed to do? I can't control the weather."

"Jack Frost cans." I muttered crossing my arms and looking at the floor. Then my mind clicked in. "Jack Frost!" I exclaimed and both stared at me blankly. "Forget it." I said. This remembered me of my friend Jessica, who loves Jack Frost to death.

"But you can control dragons, son." Stoick replied. "If they don't stop scaring the animals we won't have any provisions to live on." In that moment Bucket and Mulch arrived with an empty bowl. "Ah! Any luck?" Stoick asked hopefully.

"Not a drop." Mulch replied tiredly. "And this is after yankin' on that poor yak for three hours!"

Everyone stared at us. I turned away, I don't like when I'm the center of attention in such problems. "But it's not like the dragons are trying to be scary. I mean, they don't even eat farm animals. They eat fish!" Hiccup protested, patting Toothless head.

 **"It's not our fault some of us are like we are."** Toothless said.

 **"Yeah, we all are different. We don't do it in purpose."** Thora explained and Toothless nodded.

"True, but they're huge, they breathe fire, n' now tha' we've made peace with 'em, they're everywhere. The animals are terrified of 'em." Gobber pointed out. Both dragons looked at him outraged. Well, he did have a point in there, but what else could we do?

 _~You could talk to them~_

I can only speak to dragons, not farm animals.

 _~Then talk to the dragons~_

But... Wow. That's right, why didn't I thought of that before?

Stoick walked to Hiccup. "Here's where you two jump in and say 'I'll fix this'."

"Okay. But how long do we have before the storm hits?" Hiccup asked.

"About a week." Mulch answered.

We sighed in relief. "No problem. More than enough..." Before he could finish the sentence Bucket yelled in pain and held his bucket with both hands. Well, hand and hook.

"Correction: three days, six hours."

"Uh, okay... less time... might be more of a problem."

Since we had very little time, we began to work that same day, but we got problems on the way. Even to get the animals to the arena took a lot of effort. The second day we tried to make them trust the dragons but they ran away and it took 5 hours to find every single farm animal. Today, the third day, we were still trying to make dragons and animals get well along, but we were having a very hard time.

"Come on, big boy. You can do it. Come on." Hiccup said as he struggled to herd a yak over a Deadly Nadder. Astrid was helping him, while I was trying to make the Nadder understand we need to do this.

 **"It's a yak, not a dragon!"** The nadder protested.

"I know, but please try to be friends with them."

 **"We try to. But they are always on the way and they serve for nothing. They are useless as a sheep in a pack of pigs."**

"Would you at least try to? You'll really like them if you get to know them." I walked away to Astrid.

"The dragons look scary but they're just big, scaly reptiles." She said.

"Just like Snotlout." Tuff said with a smirk and pointed a thumb to Snotlout, who turned at him.

"You're the guy, right?" He narrowed his eyes. I couldn't believe he had spent all his life with those mutton heads and still he couldn't identify which is which.

"No." Tuff replied in a high pitched voice and I laughed at him. He smiled at me showing his teeth, and I punched him in the arm so he would stop. "What's with girls and violence?" He asked to nobody as he rubbed his arm.

Fishlegs bent to the ground. "Okay, what if we look at this from an animal's perspective?" He proposed as he crawled in circles, pretending to be a sheep. "Oh, hello, Mr. Dragon! I'm just a little sheep here... walking... doing sheep things... Baaa!"

The monstrous nightmare eyed him. **"You're not a sheep. You're just getting me annoyed, stop it."**

However Fishlegs continued since he couldn't understand the nightmare. "Uh, Fishlegs?" I called him warningly, but he didn't hear me.

"Baaa! Baaa! You know, he doesn't really seem so big and-" the nightmare roared at his face annoyed and Fishlegs squeaked, while crawling back to Meatlug and getting under her. "Sorry! But I'm siding with the sheep on this one." I rolled my eyes.

"Look, I've learned that once you have a positive experience with something you're afraid of, it isn't so scary anymore." Hiccup said as he got three sheep in front of the nadder and the nightmare. "Okay, here you go boys... over here." He said gently, and the sheep walked in line.

 **"That's sheep?"** The nadder eyed them.

 **"It seems so. Wait..."** The nightmare sniffed the sheep. **"The lamb's... making... me..."**

"And that's what we'll have to do with these sheep. We gotta prove to them that they have nothing to fear-" Hiccup was cut off as the nightmare sneezed and accidentally set on fire the poor sheep, who ran in circles baaehing in pain. We ran to put the fire out. "Ooh-aaah, at this rate we'll never get any milk or eggs!" Hiccup exclaimed.

From far away we could hear the sound of thunder, which meant the storm was coming. Time was running out and I barely see any progress done.

"What if we show the animals that dragons can be afraid of things too?" I suggested, I was running out of ideas too.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea." Hiccup said and I smiled.

"You guys remember Magnus the Merciless?" Astrid asked, all the teens shuddering at the name. I shook my head.

"Sorry, never heard of that guy."

"Well. He was a pretty scary guy. I was afraid of him until I learned that he was afraid of the dark." She explained.

"So during the day: merciless" Tuff said.

"And during the night: Tuffnut!" Ruff joked, only earning a punch on the arm from her brother. "Ow!"

"Hey! That's a real problem."

I walked to Ruff and whispered on her ear. "Anyway, that was a good one." I said and she smirked, then we high-fived.

"I'm just saying, knowing he was afraid of something made him less scary to me."

"Yes, so let's show the yaks that dragons are afraid of things, too." Hiccup said as he held up an eel. The dragons reacted immediately.

 **"An Eel?!"**

 **"Get that thing away!"**

Suddenly Hiccup let go of the eel and it made it's way quickly directly towards the dragons. The monstrous nightmare backed and made a turn in fear, whacking a sheep in the process with his tail, and send it flying straight towards a wall. Hiccup groaned and I placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry."

"Worry? I-I'm not worried! Do I look worried?" I bit my lip and tilted my head, nodding.

"Maybe just a little."

He held two hens up, one on each arm. "You know what I'm learning from all this?" I raised an eyebrow. "Chicken are really, well, chicken." I cracked a small grin. He grinned back as he lay them down again.

"What if we showed them how much they have in common with the dragons?" Fishlegs said. "They both lay eggs right? A Terrible Terror laid one last week!" He then brought the egg, and it was bigger than any other I've ever seen before, but they were dragons eggs I supposed.

One of the hens flopped up to the top and got herself comfortable. "Alright, see? An egg's an egg, right ladies?" They seem to be alright. We sighed in relief and turned around to stretch a bit, all the day we haven't rested. Hiccup stretched his back and I cracked my neck moving my head in a circle, before we heard a _BOOM!_ and the chickens panicked.

I stared at the place where now instead of a big green egg there was a light blue baby terror with purple spikes at the back and purple horns, from which light smoke was flowing. I frowned. "Um, did the egg just...exploded?" I asked in confusion.

"An egg doesn't explode." Astrid said as I bent and picked up the terror, then scratched her under the chin, who purred in response. "At least it's not supposed to."

We heard the gates of the academy open and Gobber and Mulch entered. "Everybody out, the storm's here!" Gobber yelled as the animals ran to all directions again, and it began to hail. Great, this is just perfect.

"Ah, wha-wait! We haven't made any progress with the animals!" Hiccup said.

"Your father wants everyone in the Great Hall!"

"Take the others. I need to stay and keep working with the animals. They're... still afraid."

"No, Hiccup. If you're not going I'll not go anywhere, I'm staying here with you." I said as I walked besides him.

"Yeh can't get eggs from a frozen chicken! We've got to get the animals in the barn!"

"You guys go ahead." I said as I mounted with the baby terror in one arm on Thora.

 **"Mama."** she squeaked. I gave a single nod at Hiccup and he hesitated before nodding back.

"I'll catch you up at the barn."

* * *

When I arrived at the barn the others were already there, but the place was completely covered in snow.

"There's no other place to hold them!" Mulch yelled trough the strong currents of wind.

"The Great Hall!" Hiccup yelled back.

"So, we're gonna have the dragons and the animals under the same roof?" Mulch asked. "We know that won't work!"

"If you have any other idea I'm open!" I said but since he did not, we began to make our way towards the Great Hall. Hiccup and I were at the front leading the way, with the others just behind us including the dragons. Gobber told us to keep the animals away from the dragons but not too much so they wouldn't run away.

Because the Gods hate us so much, bolt struck a tree right before Stormfly, which caused her tail to spike up in Hookfang's face. He fired himself up, and the animals ran away scared.

"I got this under control!" Snotlout said as he tried to stop the yaks that were going straight towards him with both hands, but they just knocked him to the floor and ran over him. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ooohh... Ow! Okay, everything hurts." He cried in pain.

The animals ran around Fishlegs, making him dizzy and fell to the ground. Ruff chased a sheep before a chicken flew up to her face. Hiccup groaned and ran towards Toothless.

"Where are yeh goin'?!" Gobber yelled when he saw him.

"I'm going after them!" Hiccup replied as he mounted the night fury.

"Forget it Hiccup! We'll never get 'en rounded up in this storm!" Gobber tried to reason.

"With Toothless, I can! I have to try. If I don't, we starve to death."

"No! Yer father'll kill me if I left yeh out here-!"

"Sorry, Gobber!" And with that he took off.

"Hiccup! Come back here!" Gobber cried. I ran towards Thora and followed him. "Annabelle, will you talk some sense- No, Ah-Astrid, not you too! You're not goin' with- Ash! GET BACK HERE, ALL OF YOU!"

Gobber was left alone talking to nobody, while we went on search for the animals. Toothless used some plasma blasts to light up the way and Thora opened her jaw, using some bolts to light up the way like a flashlight. "You find as many as you can. We'll herd them back to the Great Hall." Hiccup instructed.

"Can we swing by my house? I'd like to get my heavy coat." Fishlegs said trembling. I just glared from the corner of my eye to the bag attached behind my saddle.

"Check this out!" Tuffnut called our attention. "I'm so cold I can't feel my face." To prove this, Ruff slapped him on the face, so much so he supposedly would cry, but he didn't feel it from the cold. It reminded me the first time I arrived here. "Didn't feel it!"

"That takes all the fun out of it!" Ruffnut pouted.

"Yaks to the left!" Fishlegs exclaimed.

"Chickens to the right!" Snotlout yelled back.

I went with Hiccup and we looked around. I placed a hand over my eyes to try and look further but it was impossible. Then I wondered, how in the name of God Elsa was able to get through a storm like this?

Astrid managed to trap some sheep with Stormfly, who used her spikes to surround the sheep, but Snotlout couldn't control his dragon and they crashed with the barrier Stormfly did, the sheep running away again.

"Snotlout, what are you doing?! You're all over the place!" Astrid yelled.

"YOU TRY HERDING CHICKENS WITH A DRAGON WHO DOESN'T LISTEN TO YOU!"

"Thora, fetch!" I ordered as we followed three sheep. The littlest of them suddenly slipped from one side of the mountain and slid down. I flew after it, but I couldn't get to it in time as it fell from a high cliff. "No!" I gasped. Suddenly Hiccup appeared with the sheep on Toothless paws and I sighed in relief. "Way to go, Hiccup."

He smiled and we returned the lad to the other two. "Good job, bud."

"Hiccup, the storm is getting worse! I can't see anything!" Astrid said, trying to cover her eyes from the snow.

"Come on, bud. Give us some light." Toothless fired another blast at one side and three shadows appeared. "Stray yaks, twelve o'clock!" But those seemed too big and fat to be yaks. At least that's what I thought.

"I see them! AND THEY ARE HUGE!" Tuffnut exclaimed as he and his sister flew towards them and grabbed them. "I got the yaks!"

"Put me down! Right now!" Stoick ordered angrily. We eye widened and they let go of him immediately, the same with Gobber.

"Do I look like a yak to ye?!" Gobber asked mad.

"But if you two are here, who's that one?" Astrid pointed towards the third shadow which was thinner and smaller in size than the other two from before. We couldn't see well in the darkness, but we knew it was approaching.

"Hookfang, fir–" Snotlout was about to order his dragon to blast whatever was in front of us but he was cut off when a sudden voice out of nowhere spoke.

"No, please! I come in peace!" A masculine voice yelled terrified. I eye widened as I recognized that voice and dismounted Thora, running between the riders and the _shadow_.

"Stop!" I yelled as I held my hands up and they paused. "Hold your fire!" I ordered, then I turned around to the shadow, which came closer and I saw it was a teen boy.

"A-Annabelle...?" He asked trembling, hugging himself. His skin was a light tone of blue, his sleek hair was covered in snow and his lips were blue from the cold. But I couldn't miss his light blue eyes.

"...Ahti?" I asked as I could now see the teenager. I gasped when I saw my friend emerge from the shadows, shaking. He eye widened and gasped, then we ran to hug each other. Holy Mary, he was ice cold!

"I t-thought I was t-the only one-e." He said shivering and I laughed as I hugged him tighter.

"It's okay. Come with me, let's get you warm." We walked towards the rest of the group, which now they all were together, waiting for us to join the group. Just as we arrived the dragons surrounded us, extending their wings to block the wind. Hiccup and I smiled, we knew what was going on. Hookfang blasted at the center, making a small fire to warm us.

"What are they doing?" Stoick asked bewildered.

"They're protecting us. It's their natural instinct." Hiccup explained.

"Thora!" I called her. She walked towards me and I patted her. My friend was a bit startled when he saw the dragons, moving closer to me. I took the bag from the saddle, placing it on the ground. When I opened it, there were two blankets and my furred cloak.

I handed Hiccup a blanket who shared it with Fishlegs and Astrid. I handed the other one to Snotlout and the twins, and shared my furred cloak with Ahti. They all visibly warmed up and felt more comfortable.

"How did you...?" Hiccup asked, unable to speak.

"That's why I left the academy, remember? I returned to our home and grabbed our blankets from the bed. And of course, this." I gestured to the cloak. "Thanks the Gods you gave me the cloak." I winked and he smiled.

"Uuhh..." I heard Ahti. Thora was sniffing him.

 **"From where do you come? I do not recognize your scent."**

"Um... What kind of..."

"Dragon." I answered simply Ahti's unasked question. He raised both eyebrows. "I know, I couldn't believe it the first time too. I'll explain everything to you later, and you owe me an explanation as well."

"Touché." I grinned and hugged him.

"I missed you." He was stunned for a moment before he hugged me back, when someone began to cough and we saw it was Hiccup.

"Oh, sorry. I just... Choked with my own saliva." He excused himself in a very unnatural voice and I raised an eyebrow. Hiccup was not like this... Could he be...?

 _~Jealous? Oh god, that's something I'll like to see~_

Why would he be jealous? It's not like were a couple. Yet.

"Would you excuse me?" I said as I walked from Ahti's side to Hiccup's. I knelt down as I looked at his green emerald eyes. "Don't worry. There's only room for one-legged viking in my heart." I said lovely. Hiccup smiled ashamed and got slightly red. I gave him a peck on the cheek and he looked at me with large eyes before I went back with my friend.

"You owe me two explanations." He said and I elbowed him playfully, making him laugh.

* * *

The next day, the storm had passed and we did our way to the Great Hall. We opened the doors and we were greeted by the cheers of the Vikings, who where glad and relieved to see us.

"They're back! And they're alright!" Mulch announced.

"The animals are alright, too!" Bucket exclaimed happily as the animals made their way into the hall, when the dragons came in too.

"Oh Oh. Here come the dragons." Mulch said worried, just as Hookfang roared, but everyone was surprised when he lowered himself and sheep jumped down from his back. "Well, will you look at that!" He exclaimed.

"Hey everyone!" Astrid called their attention as Hiccup held a hen in one arm and lifted a round white object in his other hand.

"The chickens are laying eggs again!" He yelled and they were cheers all over the Hall.

"I was right. Chickens do lay eggs." Bucket said.

I watched as the dragons, animals and people coexisted. Ahti, my friend, was having a bit of hard time trying to accept the fact dragons were real. I smiled at the thought that once I was the same.

If someone had told me dragons and people could get along before I knew Hiccup and Toothless, I would have never believed it. I may have even thought that person was crazy. Other people may think the same thing, so that would make us crazy. But turns out, the best people are.

* * *

 **Hello everybody!**

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	4. The Terrible Twos

Ahti stared at us dumbfounded, with a raised eyebrow and an eye bigger than the other. Both Hiccup and me were standing at the other side of the table, wondering if he finally got it. He cleared his throat as he pulled his sleek hair off his blue eyes and crossed his arms as he sat on a chair.

"So let me get this straight," he said. "You're telling me we're on my favorite t.v. show what you thought it was a dream at first, but it's a real world. And then you woke up in your room."

"Yes, that's what we've been trying to tell you since the beginning!" I exclaimed as I placed my hands at the table.

"Then why didn't you start from there?"

 **"Maybe you wouldn't have believed her if she told you only that."** Toothless pointed out, laying besides the fire.

"Thanks, Toothless." I said. Ahti looked awkwardly at the night fury who only gave him a gummy smile, then he frowned at me. "Oh, by the way, I can speak to Dragons."

He deadpanned. "You're kidding."

Hiccup frowned at him. "No, she's not. She can actually understand them, she's one of the very few who can speak Dragonese, the language of the dragons."

"Dragonese? Please..." He laughed at us, but when he saw our faces he stopped and groaned. "Anna can I talk to you, alone?"

I sighed. "Okay." We walked to a corner and he turned at me with a serious and worried face. "What's wrong?"

"How can I possibly be standing in front of the _real_ Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the III and the _real_ Toothless Night Fury?!"

I dropped my jaw in shock. "Hiccup has a second name?!"

He facepalmed. "Not. The. Point. I mean, it's cool to meet the dragons and all, but I don't believe it's true."

"Look, I know it's hard to assume at first try, but all of what I've told you is true. I'd never lie to you, why I would now?"

He stared at me and realized I was been truly honest with him. He looked at the dragon, then at the viking, then at me and groaned. "Oh God, what did I got myself into?" He exclaimed as he closed his eyes and threw his head backwards.

"I actually kinda wondered the same thing when I first came here." I admitted as I patted him on the back and he only glared at me.

"Sure. And now you're gonna tell me that dragons sing,"

Hiccup and I shared a look. "You don't want to know." We said in unison and Ahti just blinked.

* * *

"Well, that went well." Hiccup said as we both exited the house. Ahti decided to get some rest, since he explained us that since he arrived he had been sleeping in the cold hard ground for about one or two weeks more less, what meant that he arrived the same day I did but somewhere else. I just hoped that nobody else happened to come. Imagine what would happen if my brother or my sister, or my mother came here! They would freak out the moment they saw a dragon.

I shrugged and looked at Hiccup as we walked towards the academy like usual, Toothless and Thora following behind lost in their own conversation. "I don't blame him, it's his first time he ever saw a dragon before. Back at home there aren't any dragons, and if they were...let's say they developed to the point they are maybe even smaller than a terrible terror."

Dragons were reptiles after all, so if back at home we had "dragons", they would be lizards, snakes, etc. right?

"Um, I have a question." He said. "What did he mean when he said 'favorite t.v. show'?"

My eyes went wide. Sugar Honey Ice Tea. Until now I realized I never explained him the whole truth. How was I supposed to tell him he was a fictional character from a program for kids? Well, not exactly for kids but an animated show. After thinking much about it, I dared to talk.

"There's this thing they've created called a television, or t.v. for short. It was made for people to be entertained or to learn through it, it's like a giant box where series of moving images called programs are shown and people can watch and hear. This programs tell anything, from family issues, to animal care, and some are dedicated to teenagers and kids. When Ahti was younger, he used to watch one of this programs, and it happens that one showed your lives specifically."

Hiccup frowned. "But h-how? What do you mean? They know all about Berk?"

"Sort of." I shook my hands. "The story centers on you and Toothless mostly, since you were the one to stop this war. There are some people on the other side of the world in charge of doing this programs, and they decide what to show and what not."

He narrowed his eyes and placed a hand on his chin. "So, other people on the other side of the world know about me? They know about all my life?"

I sighed. It was too much to explain for him to understand. "Not all about it. But we can tell what can happen next."

"They can see the future?!" He exclaimed in shock. I thought about it and tilted my head to the sides like saying 'more less'.

"And the past sometimes too, but they don't 'see' it, they write it." I clarified. "Like a book. They write your entire life in it, and they decide what to show to the people that does not know about you."

Then he turned at me doubtfully. "And...you, you knew about me when you first came here?"

I looked at him. "Not at first." I admitted as I told him what happened. "One night before I first arrived I saw a movie, like a very long t.v. show. I woke up and I had no idea where I was, and I didn't recognize you until I spent time with you. That's when I remembered the events of the movie, but I was afraid that if I interfered even more, I could change the end. I was afraid that because of me you would die."

"But I didn't." He took my hand. "I'm here...right? Or am I dead at the moment?" I punched him playfully. "Ouch!"

"Definitely alive." I chuckled and he cracked a smile.

Anyway, the exercise of today was to navigate through the forest and making it to the encountering spot accorded. When you're riding a dragon, communication is key, you have to read each other's mind...or learn to speak Dragonese. You must have a very open mind, because sometimes your dragon knows better than you.

As we flew, I heard Astrid command Stormfly to go up, but it happened to be down.

"I almost died." Astrid realized.

"Almost?" Snotlout asked incredulously as I joined them, and I laughed when I saw Snotlout's face. There were leaves and branches at his helmet, and he had two smaller branches on his nostrils. "I would have died."

I laughed harder because it was true, since Snotlout was too commanding and Hookfang didn't like at all to be commanded. He prefered you to ask him for his opinion, but Snotlout didn't listen.

"That's a good look for you." Astrid smirked as Snotlout removed one small branch, but he quickly placed it back.

Hiccup and the twins quickly joined us. "Has anyone seen Fishlegs?" Hiccup asked.

"I saw him yesterday. Does that count?" Ruff asked.

Hiccup sighed and turned around. I patted Thora on her side, and she quickly got the message, as we turned around and followed Hiccup. Unluckily to Fishlegs, we found him stuck on a tree, and Meatlug was way even higher on the same tree.

"Oh, there you are, Fishlegs." Hiccup said in relief as he dismounted Toothless. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just hanging out. It's not like I crashed or anything." Then he lowered his voice as he continued, "Okay, I crashed. There, I said it."

We walked towards him and started to pull from his legs to get him off, but the result was nothing we expected and it was not pleasant either for any of us. I stared at Hiccup's hand, which had in it Fishleg's pants. I eye widened and turned around, trying not to stare back.

"Oops."

"And there goes my dignity." Fishlegs said embarrassed. I just placed both hands on my mouth in shock. I heard Hiccup struggling to pull him down, but then he gave up.

"Yeah, you're pretty stuck." He looked back at Toothless. "I think I know how to get you down, but you have to stay _perfectly still_." Hiccup said a bit nervous. Fishlegs didn't say a word.

"What are you going to do?" I asked in a low voice.

"Careful, bud, he's not wearing any pants." Hiccup advised.

 **"Alright. I got it."**

Fishlegs alarmed. "Huh? Wait a second, what does my lack of pants have to do–" Hiccup made a movement with his hand and Toothless shot a plasma blast and Fishlegs flew out of the tree, landing in Thora. "OH! Thank you." Then he walked towards Hiccup. "Um, I believe those are mine."

Hiccup handed him his pants and as soon as he got them on, I turned to the tree where Meatlug was. "Now, how are we gonna get her..." _Crack, crash!_ "...down?"

"Can you not tell the others Meatlug broke the trees?" Fishlegs asked as he got to her, and she looked dizzy. "She's sensitive about her weight." He whispered to us and I held my thumbs up.

"How did this happen?" Hiccup asked.

"I don't know! I was just flying along, taking notes on the flora and fauna... typical guy stuff." He said awkwardly. "And something weird jumped out of the bushes. It was like a... _flaming squirrel_."

I furrowed both of my eyebrows, and Hiccup crossed his arms unimpressed. "Really? A flaming squirrel?"

"Or a chipmunk." I deadpanned. "Or some other flammable rodent. I don't know guys, it scared us. Isn't that enough for you?" He mounted Meatlug and they flew away. Poor of him, what could possibly had scared them?

"Did you hear that?" Hiccup asked incredously. "A flaming squirrel."

"Hey, don't judge. From where I come from there are _flying_ squirrels, but flaming...well, I don't know what to say." I mounted Thora and flew off. Hiccup mounted Toothless and followed behind.

"Come on, Anna. Everyone know there's no such thing as a– FLAMING SQUIRREL!" He yelled at the same time a ball of fire passed in front of our noses and I fell of from Thora rolling down. Hiccup ran towards me and kneeled to check if I was alright.

"Whoa! You saw that, right?" I asked in shock. We looked over a burden trunk and not so far from us there was a baby dragon between some rocks. We carefully approached to him and kneeled to match his eye level. "Hey, little one." I said with a gently smile.

"Who are you?" Hiccup asked as he tried to reach for it, but quickly retracted his hand before he bitted him. "Whoa! Settle down, big fella!" Then he turned towards me. "I've never seen anything like him."

Toothless and Thora approached us. They both sniffed him and had very different reactions.

 **"He is cute. Is he hurt?"** Thora asked.

 **"I don't like him. I think we should go.** _ **"** _ Toothless growled.

"You're not helping." Hiccup said. "You know, I think we may have discovered a new species here!" Toothless came over to Hiccup and got him away from the little dragon. "Hey, Toothless! What has gotten into you? Looks like he's hurt."

 **"I said we should go! Leave him, let's go!"**

"Let me handle this, looks like Mr. Night Fury over there is a little jealous." I said looking at Toothless, who got angry at me.

 **"I'm not jealous!"**

I rolled my eyes as I crawled closer to the dragon. "Don't be afraid, it's okay. Maybe we're kinda weird for you since we're not dragons, but we can help you." I extended my hand and the dragon placed his snout on my palm. Toothless growled again and this time the little guy flew towards me.

I turned to Toothless and I handed Hiccup the dragon. "Wow, that's nice of you." I said sarcastically.

"Toothless, what's the problem with you?" _Shrink!_ "Ahh!" Hiccup exclaimed as I got the dragon on my arms again. " _Little_ dragon, _big_ claws!" Hiccup said looking with wide eyes from head to paw at the little guy. I winced at him.

"Come on, let's go. You're gonna be fine with us, little fella."

 **"Okay."** The baby dragon answered.

 _At the Academy..._

We told the riders everything, from the flaming squirrel to the little dragon.

"This is so exciting! It's a whole new species!" Fishlegs exclaimed exited, jumping like a little kid whose parents just told him they got a present for him.

Tuffnut eyed the dragon. "Doesn't look like a flaming squirrel to me."

"We have no idea what it's capable of! There's no telling what it might do." Fishlegs continued, couldn't contain his exitement. The dragon looked around, inspecting his new surroundings.

 **"This diwt is hawd."** He said, I think he meant " _the dirt is hard_."

Tuffnut bent down to have a better look at him. "Flame! Do it!" He ordered. The dragon growled at him before bitting his nose. "AH! Get it off, get it off, get it off!" He exclaimed as he sister laughed, but as soon as it caught sight of her, he bitted her too. "Oh, _that_ is funny."

"Ugh, guys please. This is serious." I said as the dragon jumped to my arms and started purring as I petted him.

"We have to figure out what to do with him. He's hurt!" Hiccup remembered.

 _"He's_ hurt?" Tuffnut asked incredulously, as he rubbed his now swollen and red nose. He looked like Rudolph, the reindeer.

"He's just _scared._ " I corrected. "He'll settle down."

"Um, new species, remember? We actually don't know what he'll do." Fishlegs pointed out.

"Well, somebody's got to take him home." Astrid said, and everyone gave a step back except for Hiccup and me. I turned the little dragon so he was facing us and grinned.

"Well, _big_ guy, here are your somebodies." Hiccup said.

" _Big_ guy? He's just a baby."

"But he's got _big_ claws!"

 _At night..._

"No, no, no!" Stoick refused. "He's not staying here. I've got a one-dragon limit, and there are three dragons living in this house."

"Technically, Thora lives outside. And Seraphina is just a baby, she does not use too much space." I said as I rubbed the baby terrible terror and she replied with a pur. Ahti shook his head.

"No way that thing is sleeping here. He'll only get on the way when I walk." I punched him lightly on the arm, still he yelped in pain. "Ow! What's gotten into you?"

"He's not a very big dragon. Think of him more like...a flaming squirrel." I said and winked at Hiccup, who laughed. "Besides, you're staying with Astrid." I told Ahti with a deadpan.

"Don't want a flammable squirrel either." Stoick said. "Toothless, what are you waiting for?" Toothless was about to blast at the wood, but the new dragon got ahead and lighted up the wood before he could. Stoick, Toothless and Ahti stared at him, blankly. "Looks like you got torched." Stoick told Toothless.

 **"Shut up."** He turned away and I tried to stiffen my laughter. **"What are _you_** **laughing at?"** I just shrugged.

"Oh, that's his name, by the way." Stoick continued. "Torch."

Ahti walked towards him. "Wait, so does that means he's staying?" He asked worried.

"Well, can't throw him out now. I just named him!" Stoick said. Ahti groaned and Toothless growled.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Anti said to Toothless. Then he realized what he did and Toothless looked at him with wide eyes. "Oh God..."

Later that night, Hiccup and I gave all our dragons some fish for dinner. Thora and Toothless got one hundred each, and Torch and Seraphina got only two since they were babies.

"There you go, guys, your first supper together." Hiccup said as we both leaved.

"Enjoy." I said lastly. I barely heard Thora and Toothless thank both of us and talk a bit between themselves before eating. Ten seconds later, I heard then complaining.

 **"Hey!"**

 **"That was ours!"**

 **"Aahh!"** I looked up and Torch flew to the wooden beams from the roof.

"Torch! What are you doing up there?" I asked but got no answer.

"Whoa, guys! You're sure hungry tonight, aren't you?" Hiccup lifted both baskets away from our dragons, but they both growled at Torch.

"What's wrong guys? Didn't you have enough with your dinner?" I asked and they both growled at me.

 **"Enough?"** Thora repeated. **"We ate nothing at all!"**

 **"That little thief ate our dinner! _"_** Toothless exclaimed and I raised an eyebrow as I looked at the roof again in doubt. Seraphina hadn't even noticed her dish, she was too busy playing with a shield.

"Torch? But he's just–"

 **"You know what? Forget it."** Toothless said and I bit my lip. Was it true what they were telling me? I looked at them and they were fighting with Torch. Well, they have never lied so far I've known them, why would they do now?

Before going to bed, Hiccup showed Torch where he was going to sleep. It was a little stone pillar right besides Toothless' one, which was way bigger and wider than Torch's. Seraphina sleeped inside Hiccup's helmet, since she was very small in size. While I got prepared for bed, I heard Toothless say,

 **"Get off my bed."**

But when I turned around Torch was right on his bed, what took in surprise the night fury.

"Aw, look at that. He's made himself at home." Hiccup petted Torch. If I didn't know him, I'd say he had become fond of the new dragon, and that made Toothless a bit mad. "Toothless, you don't mind sharing your bed for the night, do you?"

 **"Fine!"** He yelled as he flew up to the wooden beams, while Torch got himself comfortable. I was starting to suspect they were telling me the truth. Then again, why would they lie? I sent Toothless a pity look, before lying on the bed and pulling a blanket over me.

"Hope he sleeps through the night. He hardly ate." Hiccup said most to himself, but Toothless heard him.

 **"Yeah! Because he's hurt and he's just a baby, right?!"** He growled and I eye widened. Toothless was never like this, what was really going on?

Hiccup looked up to his dragon. "And you go to sleep." He said before blewing a candle as the only light on the room went off and he lay on the bed, closing his eyes.

At midnight, a scream woke me up and I sat up on the bed gasping. Toothless woke up too and then he looked at Torch in shock.

 **"You!"** He exclaimed. But he didn't notice I was up too. He got out of the house by the window besides our bed and ran to the woods.

I whispered shouted his name, but he either didn't hear me or ignored me completely. I passed my hands trough my free hair in shock, wondering whether I should follow him or go back to sleep. I looked at Hiccup who was asleep, then at Torch and made my decision.

When I was ready I got out by the window just like Toothless did, and ran to wake up Thora.

"Thora!" I called, placing a hand besides my mouth. She woke up and got her head out of her pool. "It's Toothless! Come on, we have to follow him!" As she got out of her pool, I mounted her and we flew up, not before I sent a last look at my house. We needed to find Toothless.

He didn't got too far since he couldn't fly, but he was sitting at the edge of a cliff. We flew to him and ran besides him. One of his earplates moved, meaning he heard our footsteps, and then he turned around.

"Toothless! What are you doing here?"

 **"You need to hear this, listen."**

We got quiet and for a while there was nothing, but before I could ask what we were supposed to hear, there was a distant roar. It sounded like a cry, and I could identify a feminine voice. A chill ran down my spine, because it sounded similar like The weeping woman, or "La Llorona", a mexican legend my history teacher taught us at school.

 _La Llorona_ was a mother that cried for her dead children at the streets of a village, and this was a similar case. I realized it was a mother dragon, looking for her baby. It was what woke us up, but who could it be? Somehow I got a slightly suspicion about Torch, but shook it off. No, it couldn't be. It was too much coincidence.

I yawned and rubbed my eyes as I got on my dragon. "Come on, guys. We'll check this out on the morning." I told them. We walked the way back home, but I noticed Toothless glaring one last time at the horizon, before coming with us.

* * *

The next day we walked to the Arena, Hiccup carrying Torch on his arms. I suggested him to let him walk, he wasn't hurt after all, but he insisted on carrying him all the way. I was almost sure Hiccup didn't want to be a single second without the dragon, and it worried me. What if what I heard at night was Torch's mother looking for him? What if we got him away from his home and from her?

I yawned and rubbed my eyes because of being up late at night, and Hiccup noticed. "You okay, Annabelle?"

"I'm fine." I told him before yawing again. We entered the Academy were the gang was already waiting us, even Ahti. He slept at Astrid's home, while we figured where he would stay. I was thinking that maybe I could sleep with Astrid, and Ahti with Hiccup. Or maybe we could get a house of our own.

"Alright, Torch. Let's figure out what you are." Hiccup said as he placed Toech on a table.

"Oh! This is so exciting!" Fishlegs cried. "Documenting a whole new species... learning all about it!"

"Wait, learning?" Tuff asked emotionless.

"No thanks." Ruff agreed.

"There's nothing in the Book of Dragons that looks anything like him." Hiccup said as he turned the pages from the book.

"We even get to determine what it's called. Heh. That is... that is a really big responsibility. I don't know if I'm ready for that." Fishlegs said.

"I am! I'm gonna name the snot out of it!" Snotlout said.

While the riders studied Torch, I glared at Toothless from far away. Since he got up, he ran to a high cliff near the arena, looking and hearing for a dragon call or a fire. It really got me sick-worried, he wouldn't even eat when I offered him this morning two full baskets of fish. Thora ate one, since she didn't have any dinner yesterday.

"...Razor-Sharp-Claw-Talon-Feet!" I heard Snotlout say, and I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Hold on. Is he serious?" Tuff asked as he gestured him. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Toothless. A minute later, there was another shout.

"Eel Eater! Come on, that's perfect." Snotlout cried.

"Would you shut up Snotlout? You're not going to name him!" I finally said, running out of patience.

"Fishlegs, has there ever been a Dragon who wasn't afraid of–"

"Never in recorded history." Fishlegs cut Hiccup off. "We're in uncharted waters, my friend." He said dramatically.

"You hear that, Torch? You're one of a kind." Hiccup petted Torch.

"You should probably stop doing that." I suggested.

"Why?"

"No reason." Hiccup was acting like a person who found a lost dog but didn't want to return him to the real owner.

"Now we need to get him to fly." Fishlegs concluded.

"Maybe if Torch saw Toothless fly?" Hiccup offered. Oh oh. I didn't think Toothless would like to at this point. We all looked at Toothless. "Toothless! Let's take a ride, bud!" Toothless eyed him, but then looked away and muttered something.

 **"Oh, so know he does need me."**

"Toothless!" Hiccup tried again but nothing happened.

 _Oh, Toothless._ I thought.

"Ha, ha, ha! So much for the dragon trainer." Snotlout mounted Hookfang. "We've got this. Watch and learn!" They flew off like crazy under rock pillars, flew high in the air, spun, passed an unblinking Toothless, and when they returned Snotlout was panting. "Okay, your turn." He said breathless. "Don't think you have to live up to that."

Torch flapped his wings and junped off the table, then he started to walk around in circles.

"What's he doing?" Ruff asked confused.

"I think something's wrong." Astrid replied.

"Aw man, we broke him!" Tuff said.

"Maybe he can't fly." Hiccup said but I crossed my arms.

"Don't be ridiculous, Hiccup. He's not hurt for the thousandth time!" I yelled annoyed.

A second later sparks began to fly out from Torch's body while he ran faster and faster, and little by little he began to fly. We covered our eyes from the blinding light while Torch flew all around the arena. Then he came back spinning at the center of the arena cobered in flames, and finally he landed a feet away from us. Then he jumped to Hiccup's arms.

"You are one incredible little dragon!" Hiccup said.

"Whoa... Look at that burn mark!" Ruffnut said poiting to the ground. Tuffnut spotted something on his arm and laughed.

"Look at _this_ burn mark." He lifted his arm, from which smoke flew off.

"Did you see how he flew?" Fishlegs asked. "He spun like...like a typhoon!"

"And he came back just like a boomerang!" Astrid remarked.

"Hot-Spinner! Flaming-Combacker!" Snotlout tried, and I placed two fingers on my nose as I closed my eyes.

"No... Typhoomerang." Fishlegs corrected.

"Typhoomerang...?" Snotlout asked incredulously, still looking at the floor. "Nah, I don't get it."

"Of course you wouldn't." I muttered as Astrid sighed and rolled her eyes.

 _At night..._

I looked at the roof outside and Toothless refused to get down from it, he wanted to make sure that at least tonight we would be able to sleep. I sighed after a million times trying to make him come inside, but there was no way he would move.

I got inside the house and went upstairs, to discover Torch and Hiccup sharing growls and Hiccup doing claw gestures, at which he was not very good at. Seraphina was sleeping on a pillow.

"Gerr... Rarr, rarr! Rarr!"

In that moment Toothless entered the room agigated, in the proccess knocking Hiccup to the ground, accidentally.

"Toothless! Look what you did!"

 **"I'm sorry, but will you listen what I need to say?"**

"And now I've got to get more charcoal." Hiccup ignored him completely. "Annabelle, make sure Toothless behaves while I'm gone." I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms. Did I had the face of a dragon-babysitter or what?

 **"Wewe you going?"** Torch asked.

"Hey, it's okay, big guy. I'll be right back." Hiccup leaved and I shook my head.

"What is it Toothless?"

 **"There was her again! I heard her!"** There was a weird sound, and Toothless turned anxious to look at the window, knocking Torch with his tail. Torch got mad at him and bit him, making Toothless yelp in pain. **"You little rat! I'll get you back where you belong!"**

Torch fired at Toothless, but only set a real fire at the room. I got a blanket accidentally waking up the terrible terror and quickly did the fire die. When I turned around, Hiccup was standing at the door looking with wide eyes at the scene. Torch jumped at his arms.

"Wha-what's going on here?" Hiccup asked as he turned to his dragon. "Toothless, why did you do this? What is wrong with you?"

 **"Nothing!"** He snapped before leaving.

"Toothless! Wait!" But it was too late, he was already gone. "What's his problem?"

"What's _his_ problem?" I repeated. "Really Hiccup? He had done nothing at all and you blame him for everything. Have you dared to spend some time with him? No, all you do is blame Toothless for what happens. Ever since Torch arrived, you have paid less and less attention to Toothless. Have you thought of that?"

"I do pay attention to him. And I don't blame him for everything!"

"You know, I didn't think you would become fond of Torch to then forget about Toothless. If you excuse me, I'll go and sleep tonight somewhere else." I said as I walked away and Hiccup did nothing but to stare at me while I leaved. I looked for Thora and we flew looking out for Toothless. We found him hearing a talk between two baby Typhoomerangs, a blue and a yellow one.

 **"You were supposed to check on him!"** The blue one said.

 **"Me? I thought mama told you so!"** The yellow one replied.

Footsteps called our attention. A pig ran in the woods scared, and he encountered a huge Typhoomerang on the way. I instantly realized it was the mother of these hatchlings...and Torch's.

* * *

At morning we ran back to the village and found Hiccup talking to Gobber at the forge, Torch was with them. This would be a piece of cake, we just needed to get Torch and take him back to his mother.

 **"Hiccup!"** Toothless roared. Hiccup turned to him and he started making roaring gestures and ran in a circle, like we saw Torch's mother do. She did this to trap the pig before killing and eating it, along with her hatchlings.

"Whoa! Okay, Toothless!" Hiccup said. He didn't understand him, but Torch did and got off Hiccup's arms.

 **"Mama! _"_** He cried. Toothless didn't waste more time. He grabbed the Typhoomerang and ran off.

"Gobber! Grab him!" Hiccup ordered.

Gobber jumped in front the night fury, stopping him. "Yeh wanna dance, big boy? 'Cause I've got my dancin' shoe on!" However Torch managed to get off Toothless grip and flew off. Toothless chased him and Gobber managed to hold on his tail, but he was dragged among the dragon when he crashed with a shelf. Ironically, he found his panpipes.

Torch hided behind Hiccup's legs and Toothless stared at Hiccup. "Toothless! BACK! DOWN!" They both locked eyes and soon found themselves in the classic Eye Staring Contest. I just rolled my eyes and grabbed Torch, then ran away. "Annabelle, what are you doing?"

"Sorry Hiccup, but I'll do what I must do." I yelled back. "Thora!" She grabbed me with her paws from my arms, then she lifted me in the air and I landed on my saddle. We flew straight towards the forest, when I heard someone call my name. I turned back and all of the riders were behind me, even Ahti who was riding with Astrid. "Thora, evasive maneuvers. Now!"

We dived towards the trees since we were flying above them, and then we pulled up at the last second before crashing into the ground. This bought us some time, and we gained speed. But suddenly Astrid and Ahti appeared in front of us, so we made a turn to the left. We bumped into the twins, and we did another turn to the right, just to encounter Snotlout.

Little by little, they all surrounded us and I tightened my grip on Torch. We all landed on an open space and I got off from my dragon, Hiccup doing the same. Toothless ran towards me and I smiled at him, before turning to face Hiccup.

"I don't know what's gotten into you, but I don't like it." Hiccup told Toothless.

"Hiccup, stop it. This isn't about Toothless, it's Torch! He's a baby..."

"I know he's a baby, Annabelle. We all know it."

"No. You don't understand. He's a _baby_. Meaning he has a _mother_."

"Um guys..." Fishlegs interrupted us. He pointed to the ground and we all realized we were standing on a burn mark like the one Torch did at the Academy. "This is a really big burn mark. You know what this means. Big burn mark–"

"–big Typhoomerang." Hiccup finished. Like if he had invoked it, a big Typhoomerang appeared out of the blue and made our way towards us. She had rage on her eyes and we all noticed.

"He looks really mad." Tuff remarked.

"Um, you would like to look her closely." I said as the dragon came closer.

"It's not a he, it's a she." Hiccup realized. "That's Torch's mother!"

"Torch _is_ a baby." Astrid realized and I sighed.

"That's what we were trying to tell you!" I yelled. _When are these guys gonna learn to listen?_

"Whoever gets between that mother and this baby is gonna get fried!" Fishlegs exclaimed, making me go eye wide. I placed Torch on the ground as we all ran back to our dragons.

"Go get your Mama." I yelled at him, but then he started to follow me. "No! Stop following me! Your mother's _that_ way!" I said pointing to the other side.

We all mounted our dragons and I heard Hiccup apologize to Toothless.

"I'm so sorry, bud. I should have listened to you."

 **"Yeah, you should since the beginning. But given the circumstances, apology accepted."**

Hiccup guessed Toothless accepted his apologies as they took off. I sighed in relief when we were all up on the air again, but my smile faded when I saw Torch's mother coming towards us. "Guess she wants a bit of revenge on us." I muttered under my breath as we all got separated. But when I turned back she was still hot on our tails. It was following me and Thora!

"Jesus Christ. What does she want?!" Torch suddenly popped his head from the back. "Torch?! What– how did you– never mind. You have to go with your mother!"

We flew zigzagging rock pillars, under stone bridges, and nothing could stop that angry dragon. Toothless and Hiccup soon joined us and got a bit shocked to see Torch with us.

"I could use a little help here!"

"Don't worry. I think I have an idea, we'll use her size against her!" I nodded at him. "Toothless, up!" They went high and we followed. The Typhoomerang was about to catch up with us. "Now! Dive!"

We four dived and pulled up at the last second, but she wasn't so lucky and she crashed. I gasped and landed, Torch got off and went to nudge her, trying to lift her head with his.

"I hope she's okay." Hiccup said.

The Typhoomerang opened her eyes, and from her back the blue and the yellow hatchlings got down to greet his sibling. They all nuzzled each other affectionally and we smiled at the gesture. Curious fact, they reminded me of me and my family. I was like Torch, and they were like Dally, Lucy and my mother. One day my mom would be like that.

"We did a good job." Hiccup said as the hatchlings jumped to their mother's back. "Goodbye, Torch." Hiccup waved goodbye. I knew it was hard for him, but it was better this way.

 **"Until next time!"** Torched chirped and it got me thinking, would there be a next time? Well, while it didn't involve an angry dragon and a rider in love, everything would be okay.

"What did you say, Annabelle?"

Oops. Did I say that out loud?

"Nothing, I'm just glad everybody's back where they belong." I said with a smile and he smiled back.

"Let's go home, Toothless." Hiccup patted his dragon and we all flew off way towards the village.

 _At night..._

Gobber was playing his panpipes, and he haven't stopped since he found them. We were all having dinner and Toothless ate two entire baskets full of fish, but he deserved them. Thora ate a baskey and half, just because she was my dragon and she was special for me. Ahti grabbed a mackerel and offered it to Thora, who smiled before eating it then purring and nuzzling him.

"I think she's starting to like you." I told my friend.

"Yeah, but I think I'm starting to like her too." He said as he petted her and scratched her scales. Seraphina just came in walking, and curled up in Anti's legs.

"Ah. I wrote this just for the occasion." Gobber said as he continued playing. Maybe we should get some instruments around here, so we could make music. I made a mental note to tell Ahti on the morning and start working on a flute, a guitar and a tambourine. A piano would be way too complicated, so we would have to ask for help.

"I should have known you were just trying to protect me. That's what you do." Hiccup told Toothless. Then he made a disgusted face when he regurgitated half of a fish. "And then you do that."

Ahti and I laughed in unison as we enjoyed Gobber's music at dinner. The next day, we went to the open field where it was the burn mark at the middle of the forest and we filled the burns with hundreds of flowers. It made such a beautiful sight and made me feel happy. Thankfully, no flower made me sneeze.

We learned that communication between dragon and rider goes both ways. Yes, the Dragon follow the Rider's lead, but the rider must listen to the dragon as well. Because sometimes, what the dragon is trying to say is what you really need to hear. Am I right Toothless?

 **"Absolutely."**

* * *

 **Alright. I tried to make some parts of the chapter better than they are now, but I when I was almost done with it, I lost my work several times, so rewriting it was a pain. Originally, Anna and Hiccup had a fight at some point, but all that got lost in my attempt to saving it. Please save your work every once in a while! It had happened so many times to me while writing the episodes, and yet it still happens. **

**Hope you like it, reviews are greatly appreciated! Remember, if I reach 15+ reviews today, I promise to update a second chapter later. One review per user or guest!** **Until next time...**

 **Scout017, out.**


	5. In Dragons We Trust, Part 1

Alias: Do not trust/like a grumpy man with a stick and a sheep!

It's always good to know who you can trust and who you can't. You can always trust friends, but _true_ friends are loyal to the end. Like Hiccup and Toothless, they know they can trust each other and count on each other. Or like me and...Sabrina. If it wasn't for her, I don't know what would it be of me.

~ _Aww, that's so true...~_

As the sun rose high in the sky, we mounted our dragons and flew above the village and the ocean. Ahti was riding with me, and he was really amazed at the view.

"How can I get a dragon?" He asked of a sudden. I turned to him and thought a bit.

"Well, it's not like something you can buy. You have to trust each other and to get well-along." I patted Thora on the side and she responded by purring, which startled Ahti a bit but he smiled. "Maybe one of these days we could spend some time finding a dragon for you. What ya say?"

"Fine for me."

Ahti had changed his perspective about dragons. At first he wouldn't even get close to them, but now he was even asking for one of his own. It made me think, if he could change his mind about dragons, adults could change their mind about teens. I'm. Not. A. Child.

Hiccup explained that today we were gonna do a trust exercise, where we would free fall and our dragon would catch us. He made it seem so easy since he and Toothless trusted each other and they were best buddies, but when it came to Snotlout...something always go wrong.

And it went.

Snotlout just had to crash on _that_ house. Mildew's house.

"You'll pay for this!" We heard Mildew scream and I swear he was at the verge of saying, 'YOU WILL RUE THIS DAY!' I had a strong suspicion he was Nevel's ancestor...

Hiccup groaned and like all of us, he wished that didn't happen. "Oh, something tells me we're gonna hear about this..."

"Don't try to be so negative." Ahti said. "I don't think it's that bad..."

Of course he wouldn't, since he had rumbles every week with other gangs. He was in the 'Dragon Riders', and when we told him that dragons did exist and that we were the real Dragon Riders where they possibly came from, he almost fainted.

But of course, that evening Stoick was indeed mad at us, as he placed on a table a piece of shingle.

"Shingle again? Didn't we have roofing material for dinner last night?" Hiccup asked, but Stoick just glared at us.

~ _Awkward~_

Shut up.

"Stoick, it was an accident." I explained. "And besides, that little grumpy old man hate us to death. Mostly me." I muttered the last. "I'm sure he made it sound worst than it really is..."

"A dragon and a huge obnoxious boy crashed through his roof, twice." Stoick said making crashing gestures with his hand. And he had a _huge_ hand, so you would imagine.

"Well, sure, it sounds bad if you're gonna... stick to the facts." Hiccup muttered.

"Of all the houses on the island, a dragon had to crash through Mildew's!" Stoick remarked, what made us feel worse. "You know he hates dragons more than anyone else!"

 _Dragons and me_. I thought.

"I know...You might wanna talk to him about his attitude."

"Listen to me Hiccup. I gave you the responsibility of training those dragons. Everyone knows that! All eyes are upon you, son." Hiccup and I shared a nervous look. "Whatever those beasts do reflects on you. And whatever you do reflects on me!" Stoick exclaimed, and we got back to the point where adults do not understand teens at all. They only see how it affects them, not how it affects us.

Hiccup knowing he had no other choice but to agree with his father, stood up from the chair. "I'm sorry, Dad. You're right."

And that was another thing I hated about adults. No matter if they were right or not, you always have to give them the reason. Don't ask what happens if not, you could imagine.

"You and your friends are gonna go back to Mildew's and fix that roof. Without your dragons!" I groaned. God, why? Why do you torture me like this?

"Got a break there, bud." Hiccup said to Toothless, but before he could leave Stoick stopped him.

"Ah! Not so fast! Aren't you forgetting something?" He raised his eyebrows as he took off his boots and handed them to his son. "It's boot night! They need to be aired out."

As Hiccup's nostrils were filled with their scent, Hiccup placed two fingers on his nose and move then away as far as he could. They smelled so awful and so strong I almost threw up, but had to swallow it back and now I was more than just disgusted.

"UGH! I think it's going to take more than air." Hiccup said walking outside as I fanned my face. Honestly, I had no idea what boot night was, until I saw all the gang getting their parents boots out of the house so they could get some air.

"Ugh. I hate boot night!" Fishlegs said.

Tuffnut smelled his father's right boot and got it to Ruffnut's face, then she did the same. "Why is his left foot always so much smellier than his right?" Tuffnut asked to no one.

And to Snotlout happened the same it happened to me. That was the only time I almost felt sorry for him. We all returned inside and went to sleep. And I had the most weird dream. I dreamed I had to get Mildew's boots at boot night so they could get some air, while he laughed at me. _Gag!_

* * *

When I woke up... The bed was empty. As usual. Once I was ready I went downstairs to have breaksfast like every morning, but Hiccup wasn't eating. In fact, he wasn't even at the house.

"Hiccup?" I called. "Stoick?" I went outside getting the sleep of my eyes, and I saw Gobber, Bucket, Mulch and Stoick barefoot. What were they doing here? And...Where were their boots? Behind them, I saw the last person I wanted to see walking towards us, barefoot too. I raised an eyebrow to the fact their wore huge boots, and their feet were smaller than their own hands. That was weird.

"Who could have done such a thing?" Mulch asked.

"All I know is that they left a mighty big footprint." Mildew pointed with his staff to some footprints on the snow, but not any footprints. Dragon's.

"Oh! Those are Zippleback tracks." Fishlegs recognized. "You can tell by the half-moon shaped arches. That's Dragon 101 guys, I don't gotta fill you–"

Before he could keep on I placed my hand on his mouth. I wasn't trying to be rude or anything, but he then wouldn't stop talking if we let him. He just frowned at me and growled. I mouthed a 'sorry'.

"So, a dragon walked through here..." Hiccup started. "...a Zippleback, according to my friend, Fishlegs. But that doesn't mean he took everyone's boots." Hiccup pointed out.

"Well, there's just one way to find out. Follow the footprints." Mildew said as he raised an eyebrow and smirked. That was creepy.

When we arrived to the Academy, there were Barf and Belch as usual...sleeping besides a giant bunch of boots. This didn't look good for us.

"So there's a bunch of boots piled around a Zippleback." Hiccup said awkwardly as the people entered the arena and saw their boots besides the dragon. _Perfect_. "That doesn't mean–" He paused when Stoick showed him a bitten boot and he gave up. "Okay, fine, he took the boots."

That was another thing. Were Barf and Belch one dragon or two? Two heads, one dragon. Two brains, one body. Two riders...half a brain.

"How are we supposed to do any work in this weather without our boots?" A viking asked.

"This is outrageous!" Another viking cried.

"Now, how long before something's done about these creatures, Stoick? How much more can we stand?!" Mildew exclaimed, making all the vikings yell and agree with him. They all began to claim and wouldn't stop talking. We tried to shut them up by the good way but they wouldn't quiet down.

Ahti approached me looking at his nails. He didn't have to tell me to know what did he meant. I took a deep breath and...

"SHUT IIIIT!" I yelled, silencing everyone at once. The twins stared at me in awe.

"Whoa..." They both said in unison as I turned red. Ahti just leaned his arm on my shoulder.

"Dallas would be proud of you." He said and I smiled at him.

"Listen to yerselves. _Mah feet are cold!_ " Gobber mimicked them, pretending to feel cold. "You're Vikings! Everythin's cold! I'll fix yer boots for yeh. You'll be back to work in no time."

"You all heard Gobber. You'll be getting your boots back as good as new." Stoick nodded.

"That's it? No consequence for these dragons?" Mildew asked incredulously.

"They took our boots, Mildew. The world isn't coming to an end!" Stoick replied.

 _~Just wait till 2012~_

Ugh, come on Sabrina. We've talked about this, the world isn't ending! By the way, that movie came out years ago!

 _~Then wait until 2030~_

Oh, yeah? How do you explain Wall-E?

...

That's what I thought.

"Oh, don't be so sure. Dragons are wild beasts." Mildew continued. "There's no telling what else they'll do behind our sleeping backs."

"Oh, come on! Our dragons don't destroy things on purpose!" I argued back. And it was true, we had proven the entire village they only raided before because their queen ordered them too, but now they were free and they were just dragons been dragons. It was their nature, of course Mildew just ignored me.

"Actually, Mildew does have a point there." We both stared at Hiccup like if a third eye appeared on his forehead. No, I stared at him like if he had just become the Nightmare King itself. Did he just gave him the reason, again?

"What?!"

"They are wild animals. And they need us to keep an eye on them. And rest assured we will do just that!" He decreed when he noticed Belch open his eyes. "Will you get out of there?" He gestured them to move and they walked away from the evidence. But as they did, Hiccup stood still for a moment. I looked back at what he was glaring, and I saw something weird.

I mentally took each footprint a photo, then compared them to one another and noticed that one of them looked like if it wasn't real. It seemed like if they had put snow in there, or someone stood besides the Zippleback all the time. And besides, the footprint didn't seem natural.

 _Later..._

"We're going on night patrol." Hiccup decided. Ow, man. Why? I hate already to wake up at the middle of the night, why do we need to go on night patrol? It wasn't like if our dragons couldn't take care of themselves! They were no hatchlings, no babies. Neither we were their parents, just their friends and riders.

"Do we have to?" I growled.

"Night patrol! I love it!" Tuffnut cheered before asking the unspoken question we were all waiting him to ask. "What is it?" I facepalmed.

"It's where we patrol...at night." Hiccup answered simply. "To keep an eye on the dragons. Make sure they don't get blamed for anything else." What he said caught my attention. He said _don't get blamed_. Meaning, he didn't believe the Zippleback actually stole the boots. Could he know what I knew about the fake footprint?

"Um, have you cleared this with our parents? Because some of us might not be allowed out after a certain hour." Fishlegs said nervously and I kinda figured our why he was acting like this.

"Not allowed? Or afraaaaid?" Snotlout mocked.

"Hey! Things happen in the dark."

So that was it, Fishlegs was afraid of the dark. To be honest, when I was younger I was scared too, until... Until my father showed me the beauty of the night.

It was one of the only memories I had of him. I did not remember how he was physically, but I remember I was scared of the monster under my bed and the one inside my closet, but then he came and started doing figures with a flashlight. Then we went outside, and he showed me the stars, and the fireflies that were little insects that lighted up their bodies at night. One time we catched some, and used them as a lantern in my room.

"Guys! We have to do this. You heard Mildew, he wants the dragons banished." Hiccup remembered, bringing me back to the reality.

"You didn't have to remind us." I deadpanned.

"Permission to shoot first and ask questions later?" Ruff asked raising her hand, but her brother slapped her hand away and she rolled her eyes.

"Permission to skip the question?"

"We're just patrolling! No one is shooting anyone!" Ahti said.

"I have a question. What's fun about that?!" Tuff asked the last in an irritating, slow and loud voice.

"It's not supposed to be fun." Astrid spoke like if she was being totally serious, until she talked again. "It's a _Hiccup_ idea."

Hiccup nodded and pointed with a finger. "Exactly!" Until he realized what she said and turned at her in confusion. "What?"

 _At night..._

Never, ever felt so humiliated before. And I just went over two houses.

Okay, first thing, Hiccup wanted us to wear sashes so we could represent the Dragon United Monitoring Bridage, or DUMB for short. Second, it was way worse when I went to the vikings houses that didn't care at all. They just laughed at my face and made fun out of me for wearing a band that said DUMB, but I felt like if I had it written all over my face.

"I told Hiccup not to do this." I muttered under my breath as I took of the sash and threw it at the ground. "But this is Hiccup I'm talking about." I shook my head as I walked away.

The others didn't have any much better luck than me. Hiccup however, looked satisficed to know that the dragons all were sleeping at night, just like everyone else did. I was glad Toothless and Thora slept at night and not at day.

As I made my way back to my house, I encountered Ahti. We walked together all the way back, when a question rose.

"Ahti... You saw the entire series, right?"

He seem to consider something. "Yeah, but... I'll be honest, there were some episodes that I either skipped or son't remember too well. I mean, I saw them three years ago!"

"Well, I have a question I hope you can answer."

He looked at me. "Bring it on."

"Do you know if Barf and Belch really stole the boots?"

He stopped walking as so did I and checked no one was hearing or watching, then he told me.

"No, they didn't. And let me tell you, after the end of this episode, one of the villains of the series finally appears."

It got me really thinking. One of the villains. It meant there was more than one that we were going to be in war with. "Who is it?"

He scratched his neck as he narrowed his eyes, like if he was trying to remember. "Something about 'Treasuries' I think. I don't remember very well."

* * *

The next morning I walked with the gang to the Great Hall. We decided that we would have a quick meal at the Hall, so we could go back to train. The Hall gates were always open so we could go there whenever we wanted. But to our surprise, a lot of vikings were there too.

We passed by a column and noticed it had some marks and scratches. They seemed to be a claw, like if a dragon had come at night and destroyed the place.

"Who could have done such a thing?" Stoick questioned.

"Oh, it looks like a dragon to me!" Fishlegs answered, after examanining the marks from another column. I made him a gesture with my had in front my throat like if I was cutting it, telling him to cut it off.

"We don't know for sure, Fishlegs..." Hiccup glared at him, telling him to stop but he didn't know what he just did.

"Sure, we do. Look at these claw marks. It was obviously a Monstrous Nightmare. The spacing of the talons is dead on." Fishlegs specified each detail and we were glaring at him like if our arms itched and we couldn't scratch.

"Once again, thank you, Fishlegs!" Hiccup said more forcefully.

"Oh, stop, it's just basic stuff." Fishlegs blushed and I close to grabbing Stoick's hand and facepalming myself with it.

Astrid walked forwards. "But how could this happen? We had every dragon accounted for at all times! Right, guys?" He turned at everyone else. We all nodded, except for a certain mutton head.

"When you say, _at all times_ and _every dragon_ , what exactly do you mean?" Snotlout asked nervously doing quotation marks and I facepalmed with my own hand, Hiccup did too.

" _Snotloouut..._ " I groaned. "What happened? Don't tell me you couldn't keep your dragon at home, like we told you specifically to do." I said through clenched teeth, trying to contain my anger. Ahti who was besides me, knowing from my anger issues gave a step back and I just glared at him.

"Well, I was detaining a suspect who wasn't showing sufficient respect to the sash..." Snotlout glared at Gobber.

"I think I showed sufficient respect to a sash tha' says DUMB." He pointed out and Astrid shook her head.

"We've got to change that name." She mumbled as I nodded.

"Anyways, as I was questioning said suspect, Hookfang may have, and I'm not saying he did, but it is possible he wandered off for a few..."

"Seconds?" Ruff asked.

"Minutes?" Tuff guessed. Snotlout stood quiet for a moment.

 _Please don't say hours, please don't._ I pleaded on my mind.

"...Hours." Everyone who heard groaned. I smacked him on the head. "Ow! Hey, what did you that for?!"

"Oh, that's way longer than minutes." Tuff rolled his eyes.

"Oh, no, it's true!" Mildew yelled as he entered the Hall. Dear Lord, why couldn't he stay away from this? "The Great Hall! So many memories. My three weddings, their three funerals. Oh, the funerals!"

I raised my both eyebrows. He got married? Well, somehow the funerals stuff didn't surprise me. But how did they died? It wouldn't surprise me either if they were poisoned or if they jumped off a cliff. If they did the latter, everyone should know that place as _I didn't want to marry to a stinky old man._

"A dragon must've gone on a rampage." Gobber guessed. "I hate to say it, Stoick, but you're goin' to–"

"I know what has to be done, Gobber."

"So do I!" Mildew exclaimed with a knowing look on his face.

Stoick turned at his son and placed both hands on his shoulders. "Starting tonight, every night, I want all the dragons put in the Academy under lock and key."

"What? That's it? Look what they did!"

"This just doesn't make any sense! A dragon wouldn't just come in here and destroy the place! I mean, none of the food was even touched!" Hiccup said gesturing to the piles of food, and he did have a point there but Stoick didn't care.

"I don't know why dragons do what they do, but I'm not going to let them do any more damage." Then they walked away and I sighed.

"I hate that guy." I said out loud.

~ _I thought you hated fathers~_

Them, too.

We flew with our dragons to the Academy and began to make space on their cages for all of them. However as all of the gang's backs were turned, even Ahti's, I looked at my dragon and spoke to her quickly. I gave her some instructions and then I went with the others.

"I don't think a dragon wrecked the Great Hall or stole the boots." Hiccup said.

"None of us wants to believe it either, Hiccup, but you saw the proof." Astrid said.

"What proof? You saw the footprints, too. They were supposed to be made by a Zippleback, but they were no deeper than mine. Look at these! I could lie down in them!" He gestured to the footprints we discovered on the morning.

"Well, there could be a lot of explanations why a dragon made shallow footprints." Fishlegs said with his index finger.

"Like, hello, he was trying to be sneaky?" Ruff suggested.

"Alright. Well, how do you explain the Great Hall?" Astrid asked crossing her arms. Before she could continue, we heard the dragons roaring.

 **"See! It's your fault!"** Barf yelled.

 **"I said it wasn't me! I didn't do it!"** Hookfang said.

 **"Did too–"**

 **"DID NOT!"** Hookfang finally exploded, kinda literally, lighting himself on fire.

"Woah, guys! Let's take it easy!" I said as I moved between them and raised both of my hands. "We're not blaming you, this is just a misunderstanding." The dragons glared at each other before walking away.

"Snotlout, wouldn't you do something about him?" Hiccup asked.

"I'm not the boss of him. He always does that when he gets angry!" Snotlout said. Hiccup noticed than Hookfang removed a claw from the floor, to reveal a scorch mark in it. He then got an idea.

"...Or goes on a rampage. That's how I can explain the Great Hall! I've got to tell my dad about this!" He said as he mounted Toothless and flew away. I mounted Thora and went behind.

Hiccup suggested that it would turn out better if he talked to his father alone, and I agreed since it was his father, not mine. As I saw the Sun go down, I dismounted Thora and I hugged her, before patting her on the side and she flew towards the woods.

 **"Where is she going?"** Toothless asked me puzzled when he noticed her flying away.

"She must have forgotten something the other day..." I said with a shrug as he lay down on the stairs of the Hall. Toothless and Thora were really good friends since she became part of the family. Well, we did not shared the same blood, but still counted as a family.

While we waited for Hiccup, I began to rebraid my hair when Toothless suddenly snapped his head up and I became alarmed. "What is it, Toothless?"

 **"Something's going on..."** He told me, sniffing the air. I mounted on his back and we walked downstairs, his earplates moving slightly.

We arrived outside the armory, when the door opened by itself. Toothless growled and I narrowed my eyes.

"Calm down, boy." I dismounted him and walked inside. "You stay here, I'll check what's going on. If you see something, warn me." I said as he nodded and I grabbed a sword that was at close reach. I moved carefully, listening and looking around for something strange. I never liked when it got too quiet, and it was right now. "Hello?" I called.

The wood creacked under my feet every time I gave a step although I placed the foot as soft as I could. My heart was racing, it was like one of those scary movies and I was the fool looking for the monster when Sabrina was screaming on my mind to run away, but besides anger issues I also had stubbornness issues, so I moved on.

Suddenly the window snapped open and I managed to see a shadow, but I couldn't tell who it was or what it was. Hold on, why it smelled like something was burning? Because something was burning, indeed! There was a barrel on fire and on top of it there were...

"Explosives!" I gasped as I tried to cover myself but it was too late. "Toothless!" There was an explosion, creating a wave that sent me flying to the wall so hard, I was knocked unconscious. I barely felt myself being lifted up and placed carefully on who knows where. The last thing I saw before falling into complete darkness were Toothless green eyes.

 **"Anna... you..."**

Then I went limp.

* * *

The people around heard the explosion and saw the armory on fire. They all run to it and began to fill buckets with water to set the fire out.

"The armory! Grab some buckets!" Stoick ordered as Hiccup ran to do as he was told. One of the vikings noticed Annabelle lying on the floor, and besides her was Toothless, who looked extremely anxious and nudged her with his head. Stoick noticed Toothless and his eyes widened. "Toothless?"

"It was him! I saw the girl enter to the armory, and he set the armory on fire while she was inside!" A viking pointed towards the night fury.

"What girl?" He asked and until then he noticed a group of vikings gathering in a circle.

"Toothless?" Hiccup lost his grip on the buckets he was holding and then he saw his dad kneeling, the crowd gathering around. "What's going on?" He asked as he walked forwards. Toothless tried to explain, but Hiccup couldn't understand him. Then he walked through the people and saw Annabelle. "Annabelle!" He ran towards her.

He moved his father and lifted her head. She was covered in burns and scratches all over her body. Tears threatened to come but he only closed his eyes so he would keep them from coming. Ahti arrived at the scene and gasped, then he looked away and cried quietly. A moment later Annabelle was gently lifted and placed on a stretcher, then two vikings carried her away to Gothi's home.

When the fire died, everyone stared horrified at what was left. Nothing. "Every one of our weapons...gone!" Stoick exclaimed.

"Prudence! My poor darling, I'm so sorry." Gobber sniffed as he talked to a sword, which now was bent and useless. "You should've had a long, blood-letting life." He plunged it into the ground.

"She didn't have to die, Gobber." Mildew admitted. "Hiccup's dragon left us utterly defenseless!"

 _No, he was with Annabelle_. Hiccup thought as he wiped a tear away with his sleeve. "D-Dad," Hiccup stuttered. "You know Toothless wouldn't do this...This is all a misunderstanding, we just need Annabelle to wake up and tell us what happened! Please."

"Oh sure, listen to your boy Stoick." Mildew spoke. "That's what got us into this mess!" Then he talked in a lower voice only so Hiccup and Ahti would hear. "See what happens when you leave your dragon all alone to wait outside?" Then he walked away, but both boys' eyes widened.

"What...did you say?" Hiccup asked. However, Gobber's cries caught their attention from one second to the other.

"Cindy! Oh, I guess your throat-slicing days are over." He held up another destroyed sword.

Stoick sighed as he put a hand on his forehead. He looked straight at his son. "These dragons have done too much damage. It's not longer safe to have them on Berk. I want them gone." He said soflty and low, but Hiccup couldn't contain himself.

"WHAT?"

"Finally!" Mildew said in relief, a smirk spreading on his lips.

"Round them up, and take them all to Dragon Island." He told Hiccup, then he turned to the village. "By the end of the day tomorrow, there will be no more dragons on Berk!" Stoick declared and all the teens gasped.

"Oh, what a glorious day that will be. PARTY AT MY HOUSE!" Mildew announced. "Don't forget, boy. Right after you drop off your dragon, you'll be fixing my roof." Mildew told Hiccup and he finally walked away, leaving them lost in their thoughts.

"This is wrong..." Hiccup told the gang, who approached him.

"I know, it's horrible." Astrid agreed. "It's the worst day of my life...I can't imagine how Annabelle is gonna take it when she wakes up and discovers her dragon gone."

"No, Astrid. Something here doesn't add up." Ahti shook his head. "How did Mildew knew the dragons did all of it? He lives at the other side of the village."

"All I know is I'm losing my dragon." Fishlegs said before walking away, sad.

"For now, yeah. Okay, but I-I just need time to fix this." Hiccup said.

"What are you talking about?" Snotlout asked as he walked away, the twins following behind. "It's over."

"Forget it, it's over." Ruff said.

"Yeah, forget it." Tuff said. Hiccup stared at them sadly and then he wiped another tear with his sleeve. He knew all was...just wrong.

* * *

The next day they all directed towards Dragon Island, and once they were there everyone started to remove thier saddles from their dragons.

"I'm gonna miss you..." Astrid said as she hugged Stormfly, who looked sadly at her rider.

The twins took turns to say goodbye to both Barf and Belch each one.

Fishlegs made a pile of rocks for Meatlug. "Okay, Meatlug. There's plenty of rocks if you get hungry...and don't eat any limestone. You know it doesn't agree with you." He removed his saddle and avoided to make eye contact with her. Just as he walked away, she passed out of sadness.

"Be strong, buddy." Snotlout told Hookfang, petting him. "I know you're gonna miss me–" but Hookfang got sight of a bird and ran after it, leaving Snotlout behind. He just watched Hookfang walk away. "Okay. He's crying...he's crying on the inside."

Hiccup couldn't avoid to wonder where did Thora go and why did she leaved, while he removed his saddle from Toothless. He knew it was wrong, but he did not have any proof to his father and he did not speak Dragonese to explain what really happened.

"I'll be back for you. I promise." Hiccup told Toothless, walking away. Toothless started to follow him, but Hiccup heard him and held up a hand. He was at the verge of tears now. "No, bud! You've gotta stay here, and take care of the other dragons. It's gonna be okay, Toothless. Trust me..."

Toothless looked at the floor and remembered something. He stared back at his rider and placed his snout against Hiccup's palm. Hiccup gaped when he realized what he did and he knely to hug his dragon. He leaved his saddle on the ground like the others and they all walked to the ship, where Ahti was awaiting them.

They sailed away, glaring at the island which quickly got off view as they sailed further from their dragons. Hiccup leaned against the mast of the ship and Astrid did the same. He saw the other teens and they were all comforting themselves, but his eyes stuck on the sleek haired boy. Ahti.

Hiccup remembered what Annabelle told him about the movies, programs, shows and all that stuff. Maybe he knew something it could help clear doubts. Hiccup walked to him and noticed the sleek boy was...wiping his tears.

"Hey." Hiccup called him. Ahti gave a sniff before turning around. "You're Ahti, Annabelle's friend right?"

He nodded. "And you're Hiccup." Ahti replied. "Annabelle's... Um, what are you two? A couple?"

Hiccup shook his head. "No...but, look. She told me something about you knew of my life and Berk's story and... Something about a movie."

"How to train your dragon." Ahti remembered. "Yep. I'm your fan. I know who you are and know your story like the palm of my hand. Never thought I was gonna meet you." He leaned at an edge of the ship and stared at the ocean, Hiccup just walked and stood besides him. "So what's up?"

"Not much." Hiccup replied dryly. "It's just, there's something Mildew said that I can't stop thinking about..." Hiccup started. Ahti looked at him. "H-he said, 'See what happens when you leave your dragon to wait outside?' He knew Toothless wasn't with me just before the armory fire. He knew Annabelle was at the armory exactly when."

Ahti stood up straight again and when deep in thought. "So...You really think he set that fire?"

"I think he did all of it." Hiccup finally said. "And I think he did it so my dad would get rid of all the dragons." He reasoned, Ahti looked concerned.

"That's a pretty serious accusation. But it would make sense, since he was pretty sure the dragons did all of what they were blamed."

"But what am I saying? You should know!" Hiccup exclaimed, realizing who was he talking to. "You saw the whole show, you know who did all of this, was it Mildew? Why you didn't say a word since the beginning?"

Ahti sighed. "I'm sorry Hiccup, but I don't remember. And I don't have a cellphone to look on the internet for the plot of the episode. Annabelle asked me too two days ago, but I couldn't tell her. I saw the series when I was _twelve_ , and I don't have a very good memory."

"Well, but what do you think about my theory?"

"It makes sense. It could be Mildew." He nodded. "How are you gonna prove it?"

Hiccup knew exactly how, he was just waiting for him to ask. "With your help."

Ahti smirked.

 _Back at Berk..._

Like he was told, Hiccup was fixing Mildew's roof. But when nobody was looking, he whistled. He used a rope and slid down, getting inside the old man's house. He had a very strong suspicion it was all his fault, and he was going to prove it to everyone. A few seconds later, Ahti slid down the rope too.

They looked around and didn't like a bit this house, and then they saw the portraits of three woman and a sheep. "Wife...wife...wife... well, Mildew definitely has a type." Hiccup shuddered.

He was at the verge of throwing up when he smelled into a cauldron, and he did not wanted to know what was in it.

"Hiccup." Ahti called him.

Then he turned around and saw a curtain, but Ahti moved it and there were a pair of Zippleback foot markers and a Monstrous Nightmare claw. "What the...?" He said astonished as they grabbed the items, realizing this was what Mildew used to make the footprints that lead to the Academy and the claw marks on the Hall. Suddenly he heard Mildew's voice from outside.

"I'm home, ladies!"

Hiccup and Ahti barely made it to the rope and climbed it, as Mildew opened the door and came in. "What's that you say...?" He asked to the pictures of his wives, as if they were going to reply back. "Nothing? Perfect."

Then he grabbed the Zippleback boots and the Nightmare claw, before walking outside followed by his sheep. Hiccup and Ahti were doing so much effort to keep hanging on the rope, that they started to sweat. A drop of sweat fell into Fungus' head, and he saw the boys on the rope but Mildew just ignored his lamb. Both teens climbed to the roof again and watched how Mildew the items into the ocean.

"Ah, these served us well, didn't they, Fungus? Shame we have to get rid of them." He chuckled as he walked back inside.

"You were right." Ahti said with venom on his voice, clenching his fists. "It was him."

Hiccup just glared at him from the roof. He was right all the time, the dragons were innocent. Mildew did all of it.

"Mildew's gonna pay for what he has done."

* * *

 **Like I promised, second chapter of the day here! I added a lot of things at the last minute before publishing it, and it really spiced things up. Hope you really enjoy the cliffhanger, muahahaha... Oops, I did an evil laugh.**

 **Thank you so much for your reviews! They mean so much for me! I never thought we would make it so far! Think we can reach 30?**

 **Until next time!**

 **Scout017, out.**


	6. Alvin and the Outcasts, Part 2

There's an old Viking saying: "When your friends are roasting on the spit, you're the one who's feels the fire." There's an old saying back home "Real eyes realize real lies." Mildew made the entire village believe dragons were too wild, and we couldn't live together in peace. He was wrong, and we were going to prove it.

Hiccup and Ahti told the gang about the Zippleback foot markers and the Nightmare's claw Mildew threw to the ocean about half an hour ago. All of them were looking for the lost items, but they were having very little success. To begin with, Ahti was the only one who dared to swim on the ocean and look for the items, since Hiccup hoped he'll see them floating around.

"Arrrrrrgggh! We've been here for hours and we haven't found anything!" Snotlout yelled. Hiccup looked at him with a frown.

"We've been here for ten minutes!" He corrected and his eyes caught sight of something besides him. "And you've done nothing than build... _that._ " He pointed to a pile of rocks and branches gathered in a circle that made a tiny city. (And yet, they had no idea what a city was).

"That is Snotlout Manor." Snotlout clarified. "And all I need now is a queen." He walked to Astrid, who only groaned and rolled her eyes as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Aaaarrrrrrrgggh!" Tuffnut said as he stomped on what they had built. He was doing an impersonation of Hulk. (And they didn't know about Hulk either).

"What-What are you doing?!" Snotlout asked in horror as the twins laughed mischievously.

"Storming the castle."

"Come on, guys!" Hiccup yelled in frustration. "I'm telling you, Mildew framed our dragons! Ahti and I saw dragon feet in Mildew's house and we both watched him throw them into the ocean." He explained.

"I don't mean to be Norbert the Negative," Fishlegs spoke shyly. "But the ocean is really, really _vast_." He pointed out. "And our chances at finding those dragon feet are as good as Snotlout and Astrid–"

"Don't go there." She warned him as she walked away.

"Going nowhere." Fishlegs muttered as he backed off.

"Look, Fishlegs is right." Astrid told Hiccup. "Even if Mildew _did_ throw them in the ocean, they're not just gonna wash up on the shore here."

"I found it!" Snotlout jumped in joy and Hiccup smiled.

"Great!" Before he ran over him he paused and turned to Astrid, clearing his throat. "Erm... You were saying?"

To his much dissapointment, Snotlout didn't find the items, but his childhood maze. "I haven't seen since I was a baby. You never forget your first bludgeon." Hiccup groaned and facepalmed himself, until he heard a splash and someone gasping. Turning around, it was Ahti, who was getting his breath at the beach. He ran over him and helped him get to his feet.

"Any luck?"

Ahti blinked several times before replying. "It's too dark and too deep there. I can't see a thing, not to mention the water is salty..." He rubbed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "I mean...it's an ocean."

"You okay? You're eyes are red." Hiccup noticed as Ahti looked around, but he couldn't focus quite well.

"You should see Gothi." Fishlegs suggested as Ahti nodded and made his way towards the village, with a hand outstretched to make sure he didn't bumped into a wall or tripped over anything.

Hiccup watched him go and looked back to the others. He sighed. "Just keep looking."

Meanwhile, Gobber was at the forge, trying to make a double-headed axe. Once it was finished he held it up.

"One down, 345 to go." He said with proud, but Stoick sighed in frustration.

"Can't you do that any faster? Until you restock our weapons, we're completely defenseless."

"Maybe yeh should have thought 'bout tha' before sendin' the dragons away." Gobber reminded.

"You know I had no choice. They destroyed the armory."

"This would be a bad time to get attacked." Gobber nodded as he sharpened the axe.

"I know, Gobber."

"Not that there's ever a good time, but this would be particularly bad." He continued, getting Stoick annoyed.

"I know, Gobber." He said more forcefully.

"Especially by Alvin. The Treacherous. Our oldest and most-feared enemy. Who'd kill us all to take Berk for his own." Stoick rolled his eyes.

"I got it, Gobber! Alvin the Treacherous..." He remembered Alvin, he wasn't called Treacherous for nothing. If somebody knew about expert treachery or high treason, it was him.

Unknown to them, Alvin was planning to sail for Berk so they could capture the Dragon Conqueror, and then they would control all the dragons on the archipelago.

* * *

I opened my eyes as my vision became clear and I sat on the bed I was on. What had happened? Where was I? I inspected my surroundings and looking around, Gothi was attending to a teenager with sleek hair.

"Ahti? ...Are you okay?" I asked from the bed and he jumped, turning his head to look at me. I held my head in pain and noticed I was wearing a light blue night gown with a dark blue ribbon below my chest. My hair was free and it lay down my shoulders.

"Anna!" He exclaimed in relief as he stood up from his wooden seat and hugged me. "I thought I lose you." He buried his face on my hair. I hugged him back.

"Why would you think that? Don't you know me?" I asked with a grin and he sighed. Until now I got a good look of him, he was wearing not only a different outfit but his eyes were red, like if they were swollen. "What happened to you?"

He scratched the back of his neck with his left hand and looked to the floor. "It's a long story..." _Whack!_ "Ow!" He glared at the old woman who pointed back to a wooden seat, as he rubbed his head. "I'm going!" He raised his free hand defensively as he stood up and sat back on the seat. Gothi examined his eyes befores staring to prepare an antidote.

"Well, spill the beans."

He opened his mouth, and when he told me I did not like it at all. I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth.

"He did _what_?!" _Whack!_ "Ow! What was that for?!" I glared at Gothi, who shook her head at me.

"I think she means you should be more careful." Gothi nodded and I sighed.

"I can't promise anything." _Whack!_ "Would you stop that?!"

When we got out from Gothi's house, it was night and the stars were shining. I was no longer in a night gown. There was nobody in the village, and it was weird. Suddenly I got that feeling that I knew something bad was about to happen. My sixth sense. I placed a hand on my chest and Ahti placed a hand on my back, the other in front like if I was gonna pass out.

"What's wrong?" He asked me concerned, afraid that I would collapse in any moment. I looked at him with a worried look.

"Something's about to happen." Was all I could say. He raised an eyebrow. "Look! the Great Hall. Maybe somebody is in there." I pointed to the gates of the Hall and he nodded. We ran up the stairs, and when we opened the doors we saw a lot of people inside. Looking around, Stoick was at the center talking to a man I met some days ago. We walked closer, and we heard him say,

"I saw thirty men at least, all armed to the teeth." He said panting, his hands on his knees.

"Without my weapons, we'll never be able to fight them head on." Gobber said. What was he talking about? Fight who?

"No weapons!" Mildew cried. "And _Outcasts_ on our shores! All thanks to your boy and his dragons!" He point accusingly at Hiccup, who only sighed from behind.

"Outcasts?" Ahti muttered in confusion. I was as confused as he was, supposedly the Outcasts were a gang my brother's fight in rumbles. Did that meant they were here too?

"That's not true!" I yelled about the dragons, as I made my way through the crowd. Ahti noticed me and he caught up. The people gasped when they saw me, I guess because the last time I was in a very bad condition. The moment Hiccup's eyes locked with mine, he ran to greet me with a bear hug. I returned the hug.

"You're okay." He said in relief.

"For now." I turned to Stoick and if he was a few feet smaller and weaker, I would've punched him in the face for what he did. "How could you banish the dragons, when they did nothing wrong!" I claimed and the people gasped again.

"What do you mean?" Stoick asked.

"They were framed. Someone made all of this up to blame them. When Hiccup came to talk to you, Stoick, Toothless and I were investigating a bit and we got to the forge. There we saw explosives, and Toothless saved my life."

The crowd mumbled and muttered statements between themselves. Mildew noticing them, replied back.

"There's no way a dragon could protect a viking!" He exclaimed, as we all stared at him. "We can't believe in a boy, why would we believe a girl?" He gestured a hand at me, and I shook it off.

"Why would they believe an old man?" I snapped back. He eye widened and his glare hardened.

"Are you insulting me, lassie?" He hissed and I glared back. I clenched my fist, preparing myself to throw a punch at him. He gripped his staff with both hands and raised it from the ground about a foot. Thankfully before any of us could do something, Stoick interfered.

"I don't have time for this right now, Mildew." Mildew turned at the chief a bit surprised, then he lowered his staff and I softened, but still we shot at each other death glares. "Mulch! You and Bucket gather the elders and the children. Get them to Thor's beach. They'll be save in the caves there."

As the men walked away to obey the chiefs orders, Stoick handed an old axe to Astrid, much to Snotlout's dismay since he was expecting to be the one to receive the axe, so she could help to protect others. It was Alvin's.

Ahti's eyes went _huge_ when he saw the axe.

"That axe. I know that axe. It's... it's..." He mumbled something I couldn't catch. I turned away from him for a second and focused my attention on Hiccup.

"Let me go get the dragons." He told his father. "At least if we have them, Dad, we can defend ourselves. We've proved they are not dangerous."

Stoick sighed, knowing he owed it to his son. He nodded. "Go. But be careful." He warned as we walked away. "You don't know what Alvin is capable of." Hiccup single nodded at his father before running off.

As we ran through the woods, Ahti caught up with us.

"So, how are you planning to go and get your dragons, when we're been attacked?" He asked as we raced through the forest. Hiccup hesitated.

"Um... Honestly, I'm afraid to say I have no idea. Suggestions anyone?"

I caught up with him, as an idea passed through my mind. "I have an idea! Follow me!" I got ahead of them and guided them to the only part of the forest Hiccup and I knew so well.

* * *

Hiccup and I ran to the docks, but we spotted a boat on the edge, not so far away. We turned the other way around and ran, until we saw the Outcasts on bone and skin walking through the village. I swallowed a curse, and Hiccup held my hand as he dragged me under a cart and we hid there, waiting for them to walk away. That's when we heard a weird sound behind us, and we turned around to see Fishlegs whimpering and trembling like a Chihuahua. I bit my tongue to stiffen a scream.

"Ah! Fishlegs!" Hiccup gasped. At once, Fishlegs stopped whimpering and looked at us straight in the eye.

"Alvin's looking for you." He pointed to Hiccup. "He's looking for the Dragon Conqueror." I turned to Hiccup distressed. No...they were here for him? Oh, I forgot to ask Ahti what was the plot for the episode. Maybe we were close to meet that villain he told me about. What did Fishlegs say his name was? Alvin?

As they finally seem to go, we crawled outside again and followed them all the way from the forge, to the chief's house. Our house.

There, we saw Alvin himself. Boy, if Mildew was an horrible sight to the eye, Alvin could give anyone chills that were useful as nightmare's fuel. Alvin was just as big and fat as Stoick, maybe even more. He had a big dark brown bear and a mustache, and a scar on the right side of his face. He wore shoulder pads and bracers with spikes, a shirt without sleeves covered in dragon scales, what it seemed to be a skirt, black boots, and a belt with a dragon bone on the front. He also wore a helmet with two pairs of horns in different sizes. No doubt he was a villain.

We heard an Outcast tell them that they spotted Bucket heading down to the beach, which was no good. If they found Bucket, eventually they would find the village.

"You four, go into the woods." Alvin ordered to four of the Outcasts, who nodded and ran to the forest.

A shorter man than all the Outcasts, appeared from behind Alvin. He wore a long shirt without sleeves covered in scales too, a bracer with spikes and a glove on his other hand, one of his shoulder pads was full of spikes and the other was a turtle shell, a thiner belt with some bones on it, parched tights and brown boots, and a horned helmet.

"Where are we going?"

"We'll go to the beach!" Alvin decreed. Tell me Savage, how many hostages do you think a Dragon Conqueror is worth?" He asked as they walked away.

"Seven! No! Eight!"

Fishlegs, Hiccup and I shared concerned looks. "What do we do now?" Fishlegs asked.

"Go to the woods and warn my father. Annabelle and I will get ahead of Alvin and warn Mulch and the others."

Then we split up.

"I really hope the plan turns out well." Hiccup said between breaths.

"So do I."

After a couple of minutes we hid behind some trees to discover the Outcasts had found Bucket with a toy lamb over his shoulder and Mulch.

"You made it easy for us, Bucket. It's hard to miss a half-wit and his lamb." Alvin said. Then he gestured his men to move on, while they pointed their spears at them as they walked to a cave at the beach where the rest of the village was.

"This is not good."

"Come on, we have to follow them." Hiccup instructed as we walked behind them. I groaned, knowing the danger and the risk we were putting our lives at but anyway followed Hiccup. Sometimes I just wished I had a normal life.

The Outcasts managed to gather together all the village, as Alvin stood in front of all of them.

"For those of you who haven't figured it out...I am the one and only Alvin the Treacherous." Alvin announced himself to the vikings. Oh, that was his name! Not Treasoruos or something like that. "And let me be clear, that name was earned."

"'Alvin'?" Tuff scoffed. "Pft... How did he earn that?"

Hiccup and I crawled to a rock and lifted our heads to watch the scene.

"Your leader has abandoned ya. But Stoick doesn't concern me." Alvin said as he looked through the crowd. "I'm not here for him. I want the Dragon Conqueror."

"I don't think so." I muttered.

Hiccup looked down, having an internal fight with himself if he should get out or if he must wait for them to do something. I saw him hit his fist against the stone and he crawled forwards. But before he could show up himself, I pulled him from his vest and he fell on his butt.

"Why you did that?" He winced.

"Are you crazy? Alvin wants you. And you're gonna give the wolf the prey without fighting back? Under any circumstance, and I mean _any_ circumstance you can go out there."

"What am I supposed to do then? Watch how Alvin tortures them because of me?" I shook my head as I placed a hand under my chin. I thought. Hiccup couldn't go out there, they would take him away. But we couldn't stay here crossed of arms either.

"Hold on. I think I know what to do."

Mildew smirked when he heard Alvin, and he whispered something to Astrid. Then he yelled, "Alvin!" But before Alvin could look back, Astrid elbowed the old man straight on the face, putting him in a daze. Alvin then turned around and raised an eyebrow.

"My grandfather's frail. He needs his nap." Astrid lied with an innocent face. As Alvin turned again, she dropped him to the floor. I chuckled at the sight. If I was there I would've thrown him to the ocean, nobody would miss the old gaunt man.

"Well, like I said...tell me who the Dragon Conqueror is and you can all go free." Alvin offered.

"Conqueror?" Snotlout asked incredulously. And he was right to do it, since it wasn't exactly Dragon Conqueror, more like Dragon Rider. "Come on! I'll show Alvin who's a conqueror."

Snotlout got out his childhood club and ran to Alvin's direction, raising his weapon to hit him on the head. But at the last moment Alvin turned and glared at him. Snotlout stopped a foot away and ended up offering his club to Alvin. "For you, sir." He said shyly. I shook my head and Hiccup sighed. The twins shook their heads and Tuffnut facepalmed.

"Well, you'd better check your trousers, son." Alvin told Snotlout. "I think you've soiled yourself."

Astrid took the opportunity and threw the axe Stoick gave her straight to Alvin. She wouldn't have missed, if it wasn't for Alvin who catched the axe in the air. I gaped and stared in shock at the man.

"Will you look at that! My old hatchet. I was wondering when I'd get that back." He said the last more to himself, as Savage dragged Astrid to the platform Alvin was standing. He smirked at the sight of the teen. "Trying to kill Alvin the Treacherous? Ooh hoo!" As he moved around her, she stood still not saying a word. "You're not as smart as you look." Then his fingers slowly wrapped around her braid, befofe he got a good grip on her and pulled. "Tell me, who's your Dragon Conqueror, eh? Tell me!" She flinched in pain.

Hiccup gasped and was about to go out, but I pulled him again. "Not so fast, you."

"But look what he's doing to Astrid! We have to do something!"

"Indeed. You'll find your father and tell him to sail to Dragon Island as soon as possible."

"What? What are you gonna do?"

I looked up and sighed. "Something I'll regret about later." I jumped off the rock before Hiccup could process what my words meant. "Leave her alone!" I screamed. Hiccup gasped and Astrid eye widened.

"Annabelle! What are you doing?" Astrid called.

 _I would like to know myself, Astrid._ I thought. "I'm the Dragon Conqueror." I said placing a hand on my chest with a hint of proud in my voice.

Alvin raised an eyebrow before he bursted out laughing, the Outcasts following.

"Annabelle, no!" Hiccup whisper-shouted to me. "There has to be other way!"

"Go! Find your father." I whispered back.

"I can't let you go alone."

"it'll be okay, Go! Just go!" Hiccup finally jumped off the rock, but the other way. I just hoped he did what I asked him. I walked to Alvin and stopped right in front of him as he let go of Astrid.

"You? A _girl_?" Alvin spat incredulously, before he started laughing again. I removed the saliva off my face in disgust with my hands.

"So what?" I snapped, crossing my arms. "I'm not just a girl. I'm _the_ girl who drove all the dragons away. Look around. You don't see any on this island, do you?" I gestured around, and he placed a hand on his chin as he narrowed his eyes at me. I was ready for an Eye Staring Contest, but I did not want to stay here forever. I nodded at Astrid and she nodded back at me getting the message.

"I-It's true!" She spoke up and Alvin drew his attention towards her. "All the dragons are afraid of her. She even conquered a Shockjaw!"

Once again, he laughed in my face and it sounded more like a cough. When he saw all the confused expressions he was given he turned all serious of a sudden and turned at me. He walked and leaned at me, he was so close I could smell his breath. _He ate chicken about three hours ago._

"You're bluffing."

"Am I?" _Yes, I am._

"There's not even a dragon known in the entire archipelago as Show-jack." He said with a frown.

"Well, there's only one way to find out. Take me to Dragon Island." I challenged. He raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes, then he smirked and gestured to his men to come with us as he placed a heavy hand on my shoulder and lead me to the docks.

"You stay here and watch they do not escape." He pointed to some Outcasts and they took positions. "We'll head towards Dragon Island." I shared a last look with Astrid and mouthed to her 'warn Stoick'. I saw an Outcast drag her to join the others and I sighed.

"Come on!" Savage said as he pushed me to move on. "What are you waiting for?"

I cursed softly and continued walking. We reached the boat and an Outcast walked in. I folded my arms and stopped. Alvin got ahead of me and gestured the boat with a hand. "Please, ladies first." He said with an evil smirk all over his face. Savage pushed me again and I resisted the urge to punch him. I just clenched my fists and walked in. Then the rest of the Outcasts got in and we sailed towards Dragon Island.

I got myself comfortable and sat on a barrel from the ship, while Savage and one Outcast crossed their spears to prevent me escape. Like if there was anyway I could. What would I do? Swim to the edge?

I crossed my legs and leaned my chin on my hand, wondering if Hiccup would do what I told him. I also wondered how were they holding the situation back on Berk, since Alvin was smart enough to keep it guarded by some of his men. And of course, I hoped Ahti didn't had a problem with the plan. If I was right, Thora should trust him enough so she would let him mount her, but I hoped he would manage to ride her on his own.

Since there was nothing to do while we sailed towards the island, I looked over the edge of the boat and saw the sun was rising northeast, meaning we were heading north. Wow...looks like I did learn something in geography after all. Mother would be so proud. Wait...no, she wouldn't.

I had to admit that even if the situation seem bad, I still admired the view and got a bit exited since it was my first time in a boat. It was like when I flew on my dragon, every time I did it would be the exact same thing like the others, but I still got exited when I saw everything become smaller as we flew higher in the air.

After a long while, Alvin walked towards me and I looked at him tired with bags under my eyes. All the night I was up, fighting the sleep. As I yawned and rubbed my eyes, he spoke to me for the first time since we walked into the ship.

"I'm sure Stoick have told you plenty about Berk's most feared enemy." He said with a hint of proud in his voice, as he posed like if he was been admired.

"Who's that?" I asked as I raised an eyebrow and narrowed my eyes. "Oh, right! You. You were talking about yourself? In that case, uh, no."

He paused and looked at me a little dissapointed. "Really? Not a word?" He asked. I shook my head.

"Nope."

"Nothing?"

"Uh-uh."

"Nothing about Alvin?" I sighed.

"Look Mister, even if Stoick _did_ talk about you, which I doubt, I wouldn't know anything about you anyway."

He looked at me with a frown and walked closer. "Why is that?" He asked suspiciously.

"I may be the 'Dragon Conqueror' alright, but I'm not from Berk. Actually, I'm not from any Viking tribe you would know. I come from...the South parts of Europe." I smirked, knowing he would have no idea what was I talking about.

He blinked and raised an eyebrow. He shared a look with his men, who shrugged and were as confused as he was. I got up and leaned my weight on one of my legs as I crossed my arms.

"Look, all I care about is that if I do this, you will leave the people of Berk in peace."

"Why would I do that?" He asked almost as if he was laughing. "I mean, you're not even from there. Why do you care 'bout them so much? Is there someone special..." He seemed to consider something. "...a boy?" He guessed.

I eye widened and looked at my feet. _Hiccup_. I tightened the grip on my arms. Since I didn't say anything Alvin assumed that was the reason and smirked.

"Well, this changes everything." I looked at him and frowned. "You have me word I won't do any harm to 'em. But, if you happen to betray me on any way, I'll not only conquer Berk, but also kill that boy. Do we have an agreement?"

I looked at him in the eye and realized he was being totally serious about it. I couldn't let him kill my best friend. Hiccup meant so much for me, and I would do anything to protect him and his village. There wasn't really any choice left, so I had to agree.

"Yes."

He smiled. "Very well."

I pleaded on my mind that the gang find a way to come. The plan and Hiccup's life depended on it. If not, they will discover I lied and Berk would be condemned.

"Dragon Island on view!" An Outcast who had a spyglass on his hand, yelled. The boat reached the edge and we all got off from it. I had a bit of difficulty to regain my balance since the whole way to here the boat moved from the left to the right because of the waves hitting the wood, and I was slightly dizzy.

I felt someone push my shoulder and I almost fell face to the ground, but I managed to keep my balance.

"Hey!" I turned around and some Outcasts including Savage were pointing their spears and crossbows at me. "Really?"

Alvin got ahead of them and walked with a sword on his hand. I looked at him annoyed and sighed. "Is the sword really necessary?" He just pushed me forwards with it and I was super close to punch him.

"Just keep moving." He growled. I rolled my eyes and walked forward, until we heard a strange noise and we all stopped at once. "Odin's Ghost!" Alvin gasped as a sleek dragon jumped from a hole on the mountain, and I recognized it was Toothless. There wasn't any other dragon on view, so I supposed Toothless told them to hide. He was like, the smartest dragon of all, if I say so myself. "Is that a...?"

"Night Fury!" I exclaimed, remembering what once I read in the Book of Dragons with Hiccup. "The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself!" Once they heard me, they all pointed crosswords and spears at Toothless. I turned to face them and raised my hands. "Ah, stop! ...It will only make him angrier! Watch and learn."

"By all means, proceed. Heheheheh!" Alvin chuckled darkly and I turned around, making my way towards the Night Fury. I heard Alvin say something to his men but I couldn't tell exactly what was it.

When I was a few feet away from Toothless, he tackled me to the floor and licked my face. I giggled and made sure the Outcasts didn't hear me.

 **"Annabelle, I was so worried about you. Glad to see you're okay!"**

"I missed you too, Toothless." I patted him on the side of his head. "I'm okay. Hiccup and the others are on it's way, we have to buy them some time until they arrive, okay?"

 **"I'll follow your lead."**

I nodded as I stood up and walked backwards towards the island, far from the Outcasts. Toothless made an impression like if he was chasing me, using his wings to cover me while I looked for the saddle and the artificial tail fin. "You cannot defeat me!" I yelled, faking to be fighting. "You dirty dragon!" I found the saddle and put it on Toothless. "I am the Dragon Conqueror!" I mounted him and the fin made a _click!_ loud enough for Alvin to hear.

"Hey, what are you doing with that dragon?!" Alvin yelled back to me as we turned around and face them.

"There's just one detail, Alvin. It's not really 'Dragon Conqueror', I'm a Dragon Rider! Now!"

Toothless roared and we flew off. I gasped as we gained altitude and a smile spread on my lips. It was the first time I flew with Toothless without Hiccup, and I was the one operating the tail. It was weird since the pedal was designed for Hiccup's prosthetic leg, but it was the exactly same thing, except it was made of metal instead of leather.

Alvin ran towards us raising his sword, but I moved the pedal on instict and the fin clicked, and we gained even more altitude. Alvin swung his sword on a pathetic attempt of hitting us, but we were already out of reach.

"Great thunder of Thor!" Alvin exclaimed. "She is riding a dragon! Fire!" He ordered to his men as they all returned to the ship.

Until now I realized that on the other side of the ship they brought catapults. Oh God... They launched them and we barely managed to avoid being hit.

"Look out! Whoa! Come on Toothless, we can do it!" I encouraged as we tried to stay balanced.

"What are you waiting for?!" Alvin yelled to his men. "Shoot her down!"

All the Outcasts pointed their crossbows at us and fired. I gasped, not seeing how we would get out of this one. But suddenly a ball of fire passed us and burned the arrows. I looked back and saw the gang on their dragons. It was Astrid who saved us.

"Finally! I was afraid you weren't coming."

"Why? Don't you know us? We have stubbornness issues." I giggled at her comment.

"You bet we do." I smiled back.

"Watch out!" She screamed as we avoided more boulders. She flew to the right and I flew to the left, encountering with two certain boys and a certain Shockjaw.

 **"Annabelle!"** Thora roared exited when she saw me. I waved at her.

"About time you three showed up." I called, and Toothless greeted them with a roar.

 **"Hiccup! What's up?"**

"Hey bud!" Hiccup waved back from my dragon. "I hope you don't mind, milady, that I use your dragon." He patted Thora on the sides and she chirped. I smiled.

"Only I you don't mind I ride your dragon, Haddock." I replied and Toothless roared. He nodded, then looked at the ship and we all noticed a second ship coming. I thought we were finished, until I noticed aboard where... Stoick and Gobber.

"We've gotta get in closer!" Hiccup commanded.

"Aim for their catapults!" Stoick said. "If we knock them out, the dragons can finish off the ship! Fire!"

They launched the catapults and they hit straight the dock.

"Move offshore!" Alvin ordered when he noticed he was outnumbered.

"Here's our chance! Come on!" Hiccup said as we all gathered in a group and we dived towards the ship to attack.

As we passed Alvin's ship, he noticed Thora and the boys get very close to them. Since they were the closest ones, an Outcast launched a catapult towards them. They weren't fast enough to react. Thora missed the boulder by spinning around, but Hiccup and Ahti couldn't hold on and one of them fell into the Outcast ship. Thora managed to grab Ahti from his arms with her paws, but Hiccup wasn't as lucky as him. He hit the ship's mast with a groan, then he fell into a wooden box with a cry and it turned over.

"Hiccup!" I cried as we dived towards the ship to rescue him.

Hiccup hot out of the box and walked to the edge of the boat, waving to me. But Alvin got him from behind. "Welcome aboard, Hiccup." He grabbed him from his arm, then pulled him backwards. "Don't miss this time!" He yelled to his men as they aimed their crossbows at me.

"Look out!" Hiccup warned me.

I gasped as we moved in time and we turned around. "Hold your fire! He's got Hiccup!" I yelled, but seconds later Snotlout and Hookfang were doing exactly the opposite to what I told them, burning up the ship. "What are you doing?!"

"I heard you say 'fire'!" Snotlout yelled back.

"I said 'Hold your fire!'"

"See! You said it again!"

"No! He's right!" Stoick yelled from the boat.

"Thank you!" Snotlout said.

"What do you mean, Stoick?" I asked.

"Fire again! All of you!" He ordered and I paused a moment to analyze what they were telling me. What did he meant?

"Everyone!" I heard a voice yell and looking down, it was Hiccup. "Fire into the water!" He ordered, before Alvin covered his mouth and Hiccup tried to get free.

"Come on!" I said as all of us mounting a dragon fired at the water around the enemy ship, like Hiccup and Stoick instructed. The fire made contact with the water, turning to steam. It was so much that we couldn't see a thing, but our dragons could.

"Fire!" I heard Alvin order.

"At what?" An Outcast asked, turning around in circles but not been able to see a thing.

"Everything!"

I decided it was time to make our move. We circled the boat, the dragons making sounds, confusing the Outcasts and making them miss their shots. They muttered between themselves, frightened.

In the process, our ship crashed with the Outcast', knocking everyone off their feet. Hiccup grabbed a shield and hit Alvin straight in the face, before running to an edge. Toothless and I knocked Alvin of his feet before Hiccup jumped off the ship, Toothless catching him and we flew away. I bent down and offered Hiccup a hand to help him sit behind me.

"Let's try to not do that again." He said. I sighed.

"You're asking for too much." I replied as he placed his hands on my shoulders and watched how Stoick and Alvin got themselves involved into a personal fight.

"You're a coward trying to take my son." Stoick said after he punched Alvin in the face, knocking him to the floor.

"For your information, I didn't take him, did I?" He said as he stood up. "I just wanted the Dragon Conqueror, and she came right into my arms." Alvin threw a punch at him, but Stoick caught it.

"Keep dreaming, you'll never take her away. Not while I'm alive." Now he did the same, but Alvin caught it too.

As they kept fighting, I took a moment to take in Stoick's words. He would risk his life for me. Not only he called me sweetheart or lass or darling, he would die for me if necessary to protect me. I couldn't help myself and stop tears from showing up.

~ _You know, I thought you hated fathers~_

I do. Why you say that?

~ _Haven't you realized it yet? Stoick cares of you like his own daughter!~_

To be honest, I haven't realized it yet. But now that I considered it, it was true. He cared of me just as much as he truly cared of Hiccup.

When I was brought back to the actual situation, Stoick managed to wrap the rope around Alvin's hands and then punch him on the face, again. In that moment, the head figure of the Outcast' ship broke up and fell into the water, dragging Alvin with it. I cheered for Stoick.

"Woo-hoo! Yes, Stoick!"

"Atta go, Dad!"

Stoick pushed the ship, before he jumped into it. Once they sailed far of the Outcasts, he yelled at us.

"Now! Burn the ship!"

"Here we go, guys! HIT 'EM WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!" Hiccup exclaimed as we dived and each of us attacked. The men left on the boat jumped into the water. Toothless shot a blast, Stormfly shot a stream of fire, Hookfang fired part of the ship, Meatlug shot lava into it, Barf spread some gas covering the entire ship, and finally Thora did the final blow when for the first time she made a shot, sending a ball of lighting and making the whole ship burn to ashes.

"That's the way to do it, girl!" Ahti said from the back of Thora.

When we were done, Toothless did some laps of triumph in the air before landing on the Berk's ship.

"Annabelle, what were you thinking?" Stoick asked as Hiccup and I got off Toothless.

If I was honest, I had no idea. But then...I did have. We've proved that dragons would never hurt us, and they proved they will always protect us.

"Um well, maybe this was not what I had in mind. But I knew that if I got to the dragons and to Toothless, together we'd be able to make things right." Stoick glared at me and then turned to glare at what was left of the other ship.

"Um, Stoick?" I called and he looked back at me. I rubbed my arm in an awkward way, and then looked at him. "I kinda heard what you told Alvin about me." I said and Stoick fully turned to face me. "I all wanted to say was...thanks."

Stoick gave a few steps until he was inches away from me. His lips curved into a warm smile and he gave a nod as he took my hands into his. "You're welcome, dear."

I wanted so bad to hug him, but I stopped myself and kept it for later. I knew there will be a time when I'll need it.

 _Back at Berk..._

We returned to Berk, and I couldn't be more happy to return to this piece of wet land surrounded by vast oceans I called home. The Vikings cheered for our welcome, and we were more than glad to be back. Not only they cheered for us, but for our dragons too.

"You hear that, bud?" Hiccup said to Toothless. "You're back home."

As we flew to the docks, I was riding Thora again along Ahti, and he asked me something.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you."

"Oh, it's funny. Yesterday I asked something to you." I chuckled. "So?"

"Why didn't Thora was with the others in Dragon Island? When Outcasts came, you knew she was at the cove and what to do. On the original episode, all the dragons were on the island. "

After a few moments of thinking about my answer, I finally told him the truth.

"You know, I didn't believe the dragons were guilty. And I didn't want her to be caged up like I once was, so I told her to hide on the cove. She loves the pond. Honestly, I didn't have any idea we will happen to look for her when Outcasts arrived, the idea just came of a sudden to me in the moment."

"Oh, well, that explains some things. But let me ask you another question. You were caged up, once?!"

Oops. I forgot to tell him.

"Long story?" I said awkwardly and he shook his head, but with a small grin on his lips. "Hey, talking about 'long stories', now you remember the plot Mr. I-saw-the-show?"

"Eh, it's a bit blurry." He said. "But I'm working on remembering things."

As we landed on the wooden platform and made our way towards the village, I saw Mildew with a frown and a worried look when he saw the dragons were back. My grin went wider.

"What are you cheering about? Don't you remember what these beasts have done?!" He exclaimed trying to gain some attention.

"I do." Stoick walked up to him. "They saved our lives." He glared at the old man before walking away.

"And we may not be able to prove what you've done, but we will never forget it." Hiccup said as he, Anti and I stood in front of him.

"Oh, so the lass is back." He mocked. "How was the trip?" He asked me. Hiccup glared harder at him and Ahti placed a hand on my shoulder, telling me I didn't have to give him any kind of explanation. _Is_ _the grandpa challenging me?_

"In a word, awesome." I replied, surprising the three of them. But suddenly Ahti smiled with a knowing look. "The ocean? Wonderful, nothing can be compared to it. The trip? Boring at first, I admit," I said nodding. "But you'll never forget your first time at the sea. And the dawn, oh, beautiful! I could admire every second of it like I never did before." Hiccup smiled at my answer and Ahti crossed his arms with a grin, while Mildew had more wrinkles on his forehead than he already was. "Thank you for asking, Mildew. You should try it some time, you know."

We walked away feeling his glare at the back of our necks, and when we were sure he couldn't hear us, we all laughed.

"His face was priceless." Ahti said between laughs.

"I can't believe you actually answered him." Hiccup said, still shaking.

"Eh, me neither." I admitted. "But you know what, guys? I'm tired of letting people ruin my life. There are way more important things in life, like friendship. And not even the Gods above are gonna ever change that."

We all shared smiles and made our way towards the Hall, I hadn't ate for an entire day and half! And after that, there was a nap needed to be covered up.

* * *

 **Hello everybody!**

 **Honestly, I'm very proud of how things turned out in this chapter. Hopefully, I'll do such a good work on the next chapters. Thanks for all the 21 reviews, 17 follows, 15 favs and 486 views! I'm super happy to see people reviewing, if you want something to happen in the story, you can review about it and I'll see what I can do to add it further in the story, alright? Don't forget to follow and fav if you haven't done it so you won't miss anything!**

 **Hope you enjoy it! Reviews and suggestions are greatly appreciated! Until next time... **

**Scout017, out.**


	7. How To Pick Your Dragon

There was something different this morning when I woke up. I felt something an incredible pain on my belly. Ugh, I knew I should haven't eaten the whole chicken for dinner. I turned around and thankfully Hiccup wasn't here. So I removed the blankets, and gasped at the sight. _Dammit_. Definitely it was not the dinner.

I stood up and I grabbed my dark blue cloak as I put it on to cover the blotch, then went downstairs and ran through the houses of the town, looking for a certain blonde's house. When I arrived, I knocked at the door and thankfully she was the one to open the door.

"Annabelle?" Astrid asked as she looked at me. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you and Hiccup be having breakfast or something?"

"Yes, um...Can we talk about it somewhere more privately?"

"Um..." She eyed me from head to toe and she must have assumed it was something serious, because she let me in quickly. "Okay."

I was glad her house was empty, her parents were nowhere to be seen. We went to her room and once she closed the door, I held my stomach again and leaned on a wall for support.

"Whoa, are you alright?"

I shook my head as I looked down and she followed my eyes, she saw my hand and suddenly she seemed to understand. She slightly eye widened and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Is that time of your month, isn't it?" She asked softly and I looked at her with tears on my eyes. It hurt a lot. When it happened I usually took a tablet or something and my mother would be there to help me, but I was at the other side of the world on my own.

I needed help so I had to trust Astrid. I removed my cloak with my hands shaking from the nerves, and let it slip down my shoulders to the ground, revealing my situation. Her eyes widened more as she looked at me.

"A-Astrid I don't know what to do." I said but couldn't look at her at the face. "I'm a bit scared." I admitted.

"It's okay. Just let me look for a change of clothes and everything will be alright."

I nodded as she dug in her closet and gave me new clothes. Once I was wearing the clean ones, she let me have a seat as she washed my other clothes. She came back but I didn't feel any better. She sat on the edge of her bed with me.

"Thank you."

"Don't worry. How many time..." She trailed off and I knew what was she asking me.

"First day." I said with a groan, making it sound like if my voice was raspy.

"Hm. Worst day of all."

"You tell me." She chuckled and I cracked a smile, but it was quickly forgotten as I flinched. "I'm having...the cramps." I said with difficulty and she gestured for me to lie down in her bed.

"Well...you can stay here for the rest of the day until you feel better."

"Can I ask you a favor?" She nodded. "Grab a sock and insert in it a bunch of rice, then tie a knot at the end and warm it up for a minute on the fire."

She frowned at first but in two minutes she had gone and come with what I asked. She handed me the sock and I placed it on my stomach, as I let out sigh of relief feeling the pain go away.

"Thanks."

"You know, while I was downstairs doing what you told me, I wondered what did you want the rice and the sock for." She explained. "I gaged at the thought you were gonna eat the rice from the sock."

"Eew, why would I do that?!" We laughed together.

"Well, you know, it's not that bad." I raised an eyebrow. "Okay, maybe a little. But we can spend all day doing things together, you get to decide. It's your day, okay? We can do whatever you want." I raised both of my eyebrows now. Was she really asking me to decide? It wasn't usual someone asked me for my opinion. Maybe with my friends, but mom never did. Not that I remember, at least.

"Are you sure?" I asked unsure. "Spending time with me may be a bit...boring. I think." I muttered the last. "Specially since I'm accustomed to spend the entire afternoon doing nothing. Well, not nothing nothing, more like, listening to music."

"Music?" She sat crossed of legs, facing me.

"Yeah." I sighed. "It's so sad I don't have a cellphone. I would show you thousands and millions of songs! And..." I gasped as I got an incredible idea. "You know what? I've decided what to do to spend time!" I exclaimed.

"Okay, what do you have in mind?"

* * *

Astrid entered her room and closed the door, then placed the bag on the floor. "Okay, let's see if we got everything." I said. "Cups?"

"Check. Bag of beans?"

"Check. Napkings?"

"Check. Rub bands?"

"We have ten of them. Anything missing?"

"Paint. I have some cans, but they're just red, white and black. Maybe there's blue and green too."

"Perfect. Can you please bring them?"

"Sure, be back in a minute."

She came back with four cans in her hands, and we spend two hours doing our own musical instruments. At the end we had two tambourines and two single cups. We made the tambourines inserting the beans on the cups, then placing the napkings at one side and used the rub bands to fasten them. And to made them better, we painted them. I painted some flowers, and Astrid painted skulls. _Oookay._

"Are you done?"

"Yep." She said showing her tambourine to me. "Now what?"

"Leave the tambourines aside and grab a cup, I wanna show you something."

Each one of us grabbed a cup and sat on the ground crossed of legs. I placed the cup upside down and she mirrored me. Then I started clapping, then hit the cup three times, clapped and grabbed the cup moving it to the side, clapped and grabbed the cup upside down, hit it against the palm of my free hand, against the floor, changed the item of hand, hit my free palm against the floor and put the cup down.

I looked up and she just blinked. I laughed at her blank expression wincing a bit and holding my stomach, and once I stopped I offered to show her how to do the 'Cup song'. She was a very fast learner, or I was a very good teacher, because in less than ten minutes we were both doing it and changing cups between ourselves. Then it started the real fun, I showed her the lyrics and she learned the chorus and the second paragraph.

"Hey, you wanna try it at the Great Hall?" I asked a bit cheerful.

"Really?"

"Well, I've been thinking to do it since we started doing our instruments. Maybe we could bring them there and people could try to play them. Ahti is working on a guitar and I promised to work on a flute too. So what do you say?"

She stood up, got the dirt out of her clothes and offered me a hand. "Let's give it a try."

I accepted her hand and we walked towards the Great Hall. The people looked at us and muttered, we guessed they were asking themselves what we were planning to do.

No one at the Hall payed any attention at all when we entered, we leaved the instruments on a corner and we walked to a table with our cups. We sat and did nothing for a couple of minutes, looking around.

The Hall was in a really bad mood. No one seemed happy, or joyful, they were all sad and angry, depressed. We had to do something. So I started to do the Cup Song. My clapping and the cup against the table echoed all around the Hall, and we soon gained the attention of everybody. Almost. Some vikings were asleep in their own food.

I ignored the gazes on the back of my neck and continued like if I haven't noticed. And soon, Astrid joined me. We weren't changing cups yet, but I started to sing.

" _I've got my ticket for the long way 'round, two bottle whiskey for the way."_ People was getting closer to us and we smiled to each other. " _And I sure would like some sweet company, and I'm leaving tomorrow. What d'you say?"_

 _"When I'm gone, when I'm gone,"_ Astrid continued. _"Y_ _ou're gonna miss me when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me by my hair, you're gonna miss me everywhere oh, you're gonna miss me when I'm gone."_

Out of nowhere, we heard another cup and we both looked at each other in shock. Someone else knew the song. I looked to the right, and two feet away from me Ahti was doing the Cup Song too. I let out a laugh and little by little, he started to move besides me until the three of us started to change cups. I handed it to Ahti, Ahti to Astrid and Astrid to me. I continued singing.

" _When I'm gone, when I'm gone. You're gonna miss me when I'm gone."_ And to our surprise, Ahti sang too!

" _You're gonna miss me by my walk, you're gonna miss me by my talk, oh..."_

 _"You're gonna miss me when I'm gone."_ We sang together the last sentence.

 _"I've got my ticket for the long way 'round."_ I began.

 _"The one with the prettiest of views."_ Astrid continued.

 _"It's got mountains, it's got rivers."_ I sang.

 _"It's got sights to give you shivers."_ Astrid sang.

 _"But it sure would be prettier with you."_ Ahti finished and at once we stopped.

All the Vikings of the Hall were officially around us, and when we finished they all started clapping and cheering for us. We high-fived as we laughed, not believing we actually did it and it was a success. Suddenly our cheers were interrupted when Fishlegs appeared crying for help.

Ahti stood up first and I could get a good look at his new viking outfit. He wore a red unsleeved shirt, dark blue-almost black pants, brown furred boots, brown short bracers and a short grey with black and white vest. He also wore a black belt with the Berk crest on the front in silver.

"Help!" He said breathless as he bent down, resting his hands on his knees.

We walked to Fishlegs. "What's wrong?"

"I need you to come with me, now."

"Can't you just tell us what's going on?"

"No! You guys need to see this."

He dragged us all the way through the village and to the forest, and when we paused he pointed to an injured dragon. We gasped. It was way bigger than any other dragon I've seen before except for Torch's mother. It did not had either front paws or back ones. It had a large tail and huge wings that had endings like an umbrella. On the head it had horns, and it was color dark red and a yellow belly.

"It's a Timberjack." I whispered, remembering one of the dragons from the Book of Dragons. I read once of it, the wings of a timberjack are strong and sharp enough to chop down entire forests, but they like to be scratched at the back. This dragon had a broken wing.

"A _whut_?" Ahti asked in confusion. Did he even read the Book of Dragons? Oh right, even if he did he couldn't read it alone because it was written in Norse.

"Looks like it needs help." Astrid said. I nodded and tried to get closer to it but Ahti grabbed my wrist and stopped me.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to get closer to it. It needs medical attention." I whispered back, trying not to alarm the dragon. I knew from experience with Thora that at first the dragon could be afraid and that would lead them from a defensive mood to an aggressive mood.

"Can I try?" He asked. I considered it and a thought passed through my mind. Why not? I nodded at him and gave him a few instructions so the dragon will not see him as a threat.

He walked towards the dragon carefully and slowly, until it caught sight of him. He paused. The timberjack roared at him and tried to move, but he fell to the ground. Ahti outstretched a hand a foot far away of its head.

"I'm here to help." He told the dragon.

 **"Stay away."** The Timberjack growled at him, and we held our breath fearing the worst. Ahti didn't back up, just turned his head away. Fishlegs covered his eyes in fear and I held Astrid's hand. Seconds later, the dragon pressed his snout against his palm and Ahti smiled. He rubbed gently his snout as we sighed in relief.

"Hang in there, boy. I'm calling my friends and we'll take care of you."

 _Later..._

It was already late, so today we had to let the timberjack on the woods. But Ahti insisted to stay with the dragon. No matter how much we told him that he'll be okay, he wanted to make sure the dragon was fine all night. If he was not my best friend, I would had dragged him from the ear to the village. But something was telling me he was caring about that dragon for a reason.

 _~Hello? I'm right here, you know? You could call me for name!~_

Um... Okay.

~ _Wait...are you serious?~_

Nope.

I stood up at the front of Hiccup's house and remembered that tonight I would sleep somewhere else, and since Ahti was with the dragon, there would be nothing left to explain to anybody. So I turned around and walked to Astrid's house.

I found Astrid already on her room and she was preparing herself to sleep.

"Hi." I said opening the door.

"Hi, how are you feeling?"

"I'm still weak, but I'm okay. It's not as bad as I was feeling at morning."

"Good. I'm glad to hear that." She smiled to me as she handed me a blanket and the blue gown with the dark blue ribbon. Wait...

"Is this yours?" I asked lifting the gown. She nodded and got herself another gown, but this one was pink. I raised an eyebrow.

"That one you have doesn't fit me anymore since I was thirteen. I use this one now. It was supposed to be white, but somebody forgot a red clothe when washing it and it turned...pink."

"But, I used this when the armory exploded and woke up at Gothi's house. You were the one to give it to me, didn't you?"

She grinned as she unbraided her hair. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I shook my head and I hugged her. "Thanks." She was stunned for a moment and hugged me quickly before letting go. Guess she didn't have much hugs on her life. But it was okay, if it wasn't for Lucy, I wouldn't even know what was a hug.

Every night since I remembered, Lucy would come five minutes before her bedtime to my room and ask me to go to her room and say to her 'goodnight'. She would hug me, we would go to her room, I would place the blankets over her and give her a kiss, then she would finally sleep. But she would only fell asleep when I kissed her, not Dallas, not mom. I. It made me feel special.

I slept on the floor because of my situation, I knew it was only her but it would embarrass me so much if I happened to soil her bed accidentaly while I was asleep.

The next day I was way better, and while we were reading ourselves there was a knock on the door. Astrid's parents have returned so her father opened the door and we saw Fishlegs outside waiting for us. Finally after another ten minutes of Astrid braiding my hair and her own, we walked our way towards the forest with some provisions for the timberjack. Astrid brought water, Fishlegs brought food, and I brought whatever they had for medicines and antidotes. But as we passed the chief's house, we saw something weird on the sky...

"Is that a flying whale?" I asked pointing to the sky at a figure. It had a tale for sure, but it was way too fat.

~ _Really? A flying whale?~_

What?! Your telling me that whales do not fly?!

Sabrina facepalmed.

In that moment Hiccup opened the door and I frowned. Where was Toothless? "DAD?!" He exclaimed and I dropped my items. Stoick mounting Toothless?! What the heck?

"Was that–?" Fishlegs cut Astrid off.

"Unexpected? Disturbing?"

"Weird? Insanely strange?" I added as I picked the things I dropped.

"Yep."

Astrid and Fishlegs got way ahead of me, and I stayed to stare at Stoick and Hiccup having a talk. Usually in these talks, Stoick didn't listen at all. I did not know what they say to each other, but I did know it end with father ignoring his son. Poor Hiccup, I just hoped that whatever was going between those two turned out well. At least for him.

We returned to the forest and Ahti was already up, so we attended to the dragon. He looked anxious all the time we were checking him, he looked like he was going to make us suffer if we hurt him more. We managed to parch him up and to bandage the wing, while applying some medicines so it would heal faster. We looked at the dragon and it nuzzled Ahti affectionally, and I believed Ahti finally had found a dragon of his own.

 _Later..._

Stoick dismounted Toothless and walked towards his house, but Toothless looked greenly. Like if he had eaten to much, or like if he was dizzy, or like if a very fat viking had rode him all day without resting. Toothless could barely stand up by himself. His earplates were drop and he had his eyes half closed.

"You see that?" Hiccup asked Astrid and me as we looked at Toothless. "That's what it looks like to be ridden all day by a four-hundred-pound man."

"At least you got your dad on a dragon." I pointed out.

"Yeah, now I just need to figure out how to get him _off_ one." Hiccup replied. We stood up from the steps of the Hall and walked downstairs.

"Why don't you just give him the old 'Honey and The Hatchet'?" Astrid offered, and Hiccup and I looked at her with a frown completely puzzled. "You know, you tell him something he wants to hear, that's the 'Honey' part, before you hit him in the head with something he doesn't." She explained, punching Hiccup on the arm. "You know, 'The Hatchet'."

"Why does your advice always involve weapons?" Hiccup asked rubbing his arm and Astrid only smiled.

* * *

The next morning we finally went to the Academy and all the gang was there for the first time in two or three days. Hiccup was there too, and he told us something we did not like at all.

"Stoick? Here?" Fishlegs asked.

"In a dragon?" Snotlout continued.

"How long did it took him to find one?" Ruffnut asked.

"Not long." Hiccup replied. "But he's not coming in a dragon. He's coming to find one."

"What?!" We all said. Just as we said that, Stoick came walking in. We all arranged in a line besides our dragons, but I was lost in my thoughts. What if Stoick liked one of our dragons and wanted to stay with it? Would we loose them forever? It took me so long to find myself a dragon, but leaving that aside, he couldn't just grab one and ride it. He had to create a bond.

"The finest dragon species on the island." Hiccup announced, gesturing to all of us. But if I was honest, they were the only dragons we have ever trained so far. "They're all represented at this Academy."

"But the Monstrous Nightmare is the only one with the brawn and prestige for men of our stature." Snotlout said walking forwards and guiding the chief towards Hookfang.

"When he says 'our stature' he means us or Stoick?" I asked Ruffnut and she shrugged.

"Hop on board." Snotlout said as Stoick sat on the saddle. "Feel the Monstrous Nightmare difference. And on those cold winter nights, its whole body heats up. Just enough to keep you _cozy_. Lemme warm him up for you." He snapped Hookfang's head with his fingers and the nightmare glared at his rider while warming himself up. Stoick's pants accidentally caught on fire and he jumped off screaming, to a nearby water tub.

"Now should I put you down for one?" Snotlout continued while Stoick glared at him. "They come in an assortment of colors." He smiled nervously.

Next came Astrid and Stormfly.

"Since she's beautiful, people think she's not tough." Astrid said. "But you should never underestimate me. Uh, her-uh, us." She smiled placing her hands behind her back.

"Well, she is a beauty." Stoick recognized, extending an arm and petting the nadder. But he practically slapped her, what startled Stormfly.

"Be careful with the–!" Astrid tried to warn him, but Stormfly shot her spikes at Stoick, barely missing him. Snotlout used this opportunity to approach the chief with a big smirk and placed his hands behind his back.

"Monstrous Nightmare's looking a little better now, huh, Chief?" He asked.

"Next!" Stoick said.

Then it was me and Thora. My heart was racing all the time and I was praying to the Gods that he did not chose my dragon. But then again, I tried my best to impress him.

"The only one of her species so far ever seen. Instead of fire, she is capable of emitting bio-electricity." Stoick seemed interested and he walked towards us. But when he touched her, Thora emitted said lightning electrocuting Stoick. He shook violently on his own place before he collapsed. I gasped. When he sat down, his hair and beard were all standing up. I slapped my mouth to stiffen a laugh and so did the others. Stoick didn't seem amused.

"Next!"

Supposedly, the twins were next. But they didn't mind explaining, instead they fought each other. Barf and Belch were the same. Barf let out some gas and Belch ignited it, making a small explosion at their faces.

"Next!"

Last but not least, were Fishlegs and Meatlug. "Lemme tell you, what you're really looking for is loyalty." Fishlegs began. "A dragon who will be there for you no matter what. The last face you see at night and the first face you see in the morning." Fishlegs got sentimental as we shared looks between us. "Warming your bed when it's cold outside, a shoulder to cry on when the world has turned its back on you. How could you not love a Gronckle?" He ended hugging Meatlug.

Stoick leaned towards him, "Sorry, son. But I'm looking for a dragon. Not a mother." I shuddered at the thought. _Definitely not a mother, please._ He then turned to Hiccup. "I haven't seen anything that can hold a candle to a Night Fury." He said, then he eyed Thora. "Well, actually I do have kind of."

I hugged Thora protectively.

"But you know Dad, Toothless is the only Night Fury on Berk. And he's mine." Hiccup reminded his father. _Fair enough_. I thought.

Suddenly, Gobber entered the Academy running.

"Stoick! Another boat is bein' attacked! It's the rogue dragon again." He explained.

"Rogue dragon?" I asked out loud.

"It's been attacking our ships. We takes our catches." Stoick explained as he and his son both tried to mount Toothless, but both placed their own legs on the pedal. Er, leg and prosthetic. They shared looks.

"Oh, right... What was I thinking?" Hiccup asked sarcastically as he mounted on the back. "At least he blocks the wind..." He muttered but I was able to hear him.

I mounted my dragon but before we could fly off, Gobber stopped us.

"Not so fast lassie."

"What is it, Gobber?"

"Yer friend. The black haired boy." My eyes went wide. "A Viking came to me and told me he saw him with a black guy. He could really cause you chills. He says yer friend was crying for help."

I questioned myself what was wrong. What problem should Ahti have, if he was doing well with the timberjack? And what did Gobber meant with a black guy?

We arrived in five minutes. Ahti was in fetal position behind a tree and I frowned when I saw him. It was the first time I saw him like that. Something really went wrong.

"Ahti!" I called and his eyes flickered to me. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked. Sabrina internally kicked me for asking that obvious question, but what was I supposed to do. He was panting. He shook his head and rocketed from the back to the front. I looked around for any sign of the dragon but it was gone. "Hey, I'm here. Tell me what happened."

I lifted his chin until our eyes met and until now he realized I was there. "Annabelle!" He embraced me in a tight hug and almost got the air out of my lungs. "H-h-he was here." He said trembling. "He saw me straight in the eye. Grabbed me from the neck." He lifted his head and I noticed black markings on it. I gasped and reach for him but he shook my hands off.

"Who did this to you?!" I yelled. He didn't answer my question.

"Hair black as the night. Ash color skinned." He swallowed and continued. "He moved his hand and in a blink he held me from the throat, as thousands of monsters surrounded us. And then it protected me." At this point I assumed he was talking about the dragon. "Shot fire at those monsters. He flew to escape, and I was left defenseless. He let me go, and commanded the monsters to attack me but something blocked their attacks. Someone."

"Who? Ahti, at least tell me who saved you."

"He was fast. He fought that guy, but I blacked out. When I was conscious again, they were gone." As I stood up, he pulled my arm. "No no no no! Please don't go." He begged. He seemed scared of his own shadow.

I looked super worried at my friend. He was so strong, always so brave, so fearless. And he was left traumatized. But who was this guy that helped him, and the other who attacked him? Was it somebody we knew? Ahti refused to say something else. I couldn't talk to him. He was too tired and he passed out. I took him to Hiccup's house, and lay him on Hiccup's bed. If Hiccup happened to find him, I would explain him later.

"Let's go Thora." I said as I sat on my saddle. She extended her wings.

 **"Where are we going?"**

"We'll find that Timberjack. And if we have luck, find the guy who hurt my friend."

We flew to the air. For hours we looked for both the dragon and the guy, but it was already late. The sun was going down and to our bad luck found none. For a moment I considered the dragon was already gone, but something passed us and I jumped on my seat, startled. Thora flapped her wings, startled as well. It was a blue...flat dragon. Very, flat dragon. It had spikes all over its back in a line and a very large tail. It was a Thunderdrum, but what shocked me the most was the fact it was wearing a muzzle.

"Let's follow it."

We flew behind, keeping a good distance and saw it flew into a cave. We landed outside and I walked towards the exit. The Thunderdrum didn't notice me yet, because it had its back turned to me. It had its attention on something way deeper. I catched a glimpse of the wing and saw a bandage over the red dark wing. The Timberjack!

I gave a step to get closer.

 _Crack!_

Uh-oh. I lifted my foot and discovered a now-wrecked branch under it. Great.

 _Grrrr._

The Thunderdrum turned to me and growled, showing its teeth, and yet not capable of opening its mouth because of the muzzle. I raised my hands in surrender and gave a few steps back as it walked towards me in a threatening way.

"I'm here to help." I said.

It just growled to me. Oh, I forgot. Thunderdrums are almost deaf. Okay, what should I do, what should I do? Maybe speak to the Timberjack.

"Hey there!" I called and he looked at me. "I came to help you two. Please."

 **"She is a friend."** The Timberjack told the Thunderdrum and it looked back.

 **"Ha! Do not make me laugh. _"_** The Thunderdrum replied. I was taken aback. How was it possible it could hear another dragon but not me? However, it didn't surprise me his reaction about me trying to make a good. Well, maybe the Timberjack could talk to it and tell him I meant no harm.

"Please, all I wanna do is help. I promise to not do anything dangerous to you."

The Timberjack talked to the Thunderdrum again, and the lattter dragon softened a bit. He let me pass.

"How did you got here? My friend was taking care of you at the woods and you left him on his own." I lowered my voice.

 **"I am sorry. But I was trying to protect him."**

"Protect him how?" I snapped. "He was almost killed!" He raised his head almost instantly at my statement and his eyes turned to slits. I backed off some inches.

 **"But I drove that things away!"** He replied. I raised an eyebrow and gestured him to continue. **"A black human appeared out of nowhere and threatened us both with some creatures. I guided them as far as I could from that boy, but I crashed here. I would be dead if it the Thunderdrum did not find me and took care of me."**

He moved his head to a corner and ate some fish from a pile besides him. A huge pile. How did a single dragon got all that fish?

The Thunderdrum walked to us and I looked at him. I placed a hand on my chest and gave him a thankful look, which he seemed to understand since he blinked and replied. **"You are welcomed."**

"What did these creatures look like?" I asked the Timberjack.

 **"I do not really know. It seemed they were made of smoke or something."**

"What?" I gave him a confused look and he placed his head on the ground. He looked tired and sad.

 **"Pardon me, I am too weak. I just hope the kid is okay."**

He meant Ahti. I let him rest as the Thunderdrum went out of the cave looking for intruders and came back. We shared looks but did not say anything to each other. He turned around then walked back outside and I stared at him awkwardly. I walked to the exit and saw Stoick with a hammer, Hiccup and Toothless besides.

 **"Stay away you!"** He walked forwards and Thora ran besides the chief protectively, though the only one who needed protection was the dragon in the cave.

 **"Speak for yourself!"** Toothless shot back but Hiccup gestured him to calm down. He frowned when he saw my dragon and snapped his head back to the cave, desperately to find me. I showed up from behind the dragon and they gasped.

"I know, I know. What am I doing?" I said with sarcasm, knowing that was exactly what they were thinking. "Look, there's an explanation for all the fish stolen. There's an injured Timberjack here, and it needs help." I pointed backwards.

Hiccup and Stoick tilted their heads to the side, and they realized it was true. Stoick considered something.

"Well, he's protecting his friend. Go get the others." Stoick ordered to Hiccup. "And tell Gobber to get ready."

"Dad, I can't just leave you two here!" Hiccup replied, stubborn as ever.

"Go! We got this." Hiccup hesitated and looked unsure to me. I looked back to the chief, then nodded and he sighed, walking back to Toothless. "Looks like it's just you and me, big fella." Stoick said to the Thunderdrum.

 _Um, hello? I'm right here!_ I shrugged after a sigh and walked back to the cave, but then I held my stomach in pain and kneeled. _Oh, no. Not this again. Not now, please._

I crawled until the wounded dragon and rested my back against a wall. It depended on Stoick and the dragons.

 **"Here they come."** I heard the dragon say. They? I thought as I did an effort to look at the outside, and I noticed a pack of wild pigs with horns walking in a menacing way.

 **"What are those?! What do they want?"** Thora roared and Stoick looked back to the Timberjack, realization slapping him in the face.

"Ah, they smell the blood of your wounded friend."

Stoick had dropped his hammer when he understood the Thunderdrum was just being protective, but grabbed it again to fight the wild animals. He whacked them with his hammer and one by one they were down. One pinned him to the ground but the Thunderdrum knocked it off him.

Some managed to reach us, but Thora blasted them and they jumped back. Just as it seemed to end, more appeared. Stoick looked concerned at the Thunderdrum, and for a moment it seemed they both had the same thought. They had to work together.

Stoick extended a hand and the dragon approached him. Then the most unbelievable thing happened.

~ _Batman appeared_ _!~_

I facepalmed internally, she had to ruin the best moments.

The Thunderdrum and Stoick bonded. I gaped at the sight and smiled, but the moment was short lived when the animals seemed to get closer. Stoick pulled the muzzle off from the dragon and then another unbelievable thing happened, he rode it. _If only Hiccup could see this..._

As the pigs ran to them, the Thunderdrum did the only thing he was so feared/admired for. He sent the pigs flying away with a sonic blast.

"Aww, look at us! We're bonded!" Stoick praised, and he sounded quite cheerful. But from the look of his face it was still unbelievable that he was actually riding in the back of a dragon.

And then we heard a high-pitched screech I would recognize anywhere I went. The gang soon arrived and Stoick told Hiccup what happened.

"Ah, we battled a few boars, did a little bonding."

"You?" Hiccup asked incredulously.

"Of course! There's something you should know about dragons. It's all about trust." He said and Hiccup realized he actually said that to his father.

"So you actually... heard that?" He smiled.

"Yes. I just said it." Stoick chuckled. "I listen."

As they shared smiles the others came to attend the Timberjack. Astrid and Fishlegs were stunned when they saw it here, and I promised to tell them later.

"Astrid..." I looked down to my hand over my stomach and she quickly understood. She placed my arm around her shoulders and helped me walk to my dragon. But as soon as we were on the air again, my necklace glowed slightly. I touched it and it felt warmer than usual, but it was a familiar warmth. As I wrapped my hand around the shell, I felt a really cold wind blow through my hair and a shiver ran down my back.

My eyes explored the place and I saw a trace of ice on the floor expanding, but just on a corner. I narrowed my eyes at it for a moment and a thought crossed my mind for a second, but when I saw the others flying away I patted Thora on her side and we flew to join them.

When we finally arrived to Berk, Ahti was in a better condition. He was wearing a wooden collar, but he was up and he was fine. The moment I saw him he was standing up, I ran to him and hugged him struggling the life out of him. He hugged me back and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. Until now I realized how worried I was for him.

Stoick and Hiccup left the injured Timberjack in front of the forge where my friend and Gobber were awaiting.

"Take good care of him. He's a friend." Stoick told both as Gobber gave a thumbs up and Ahti made a scout salute, before running to the dragon. He hugged him and the dragon nuzzled him back. Yep, I was sure next time we knew of them, they would be rider and dragon.

But I was still concerned about what happened to him. Who were these guys he told me about? Would we know of them again?

* * *

He watched behind a tree until they were completely gone and sighed in relief when they didn't see him. That was a close one, how many times he was so close to be discovered? But this time though, he felt his hand warmer than before. A familiar warmth he hadn't felt since two decades ago. He opened his hand and looked back at his ring, which was glowing slightly. His eyes went wide.

Have they returned? After all this years, they were finally back? He smiled widely at the though and his eyes sparkled with joy, when he looked back at his item and watched as the glow was dying again.

"No, no, come on..." He encouraged the glow to stay. In that moment he heard a familiar buzzing sound.

"I found him!" A familiar feminine voice exclaimed as she got closer to him.

"How many times do we have to tell you, you have to be careful!" A stronger voice with an unusual accent said. He just looked at them with happiness and embarrassment, as he swallowed before replying.

"They're back." Was all he could say. The other four stared at him with wide-eyed glares.

"Wha-what do you mean they're back? You saw them?" Another voice stuttered in shock.

He shook his head and opened his palm, showing them his silver frost ring, he received it two decades ago among a couple, from an old woman living in the woods. They noticed the ring was glowing. The glow was almost dead, but when it died completely they could tell the difference. The air changed of temperature when it stopped glowing and they all felt it.

The littlest of the group pointed to the sky and they gasped when they spotted dark figures. They were used to them, but never saw them so close to this place. It only confirmed they were back. Now, how many of them were back?

"What are they doing here?" The female asked referring to the figures.

" _He_ knows about their arrival." The guy answered. "He tried to attack one of them, but I interfered. So then I assume more came."

"How many do you think, mate?"

"No more than five." He answered simply.

The leader of the group sighed. "Okay. Given the circumstances... You have a new mission. Protect them." The eyes of the other widened.

"Wait what?!" He exclaimed. Was he joking?

The guy smirked, he loved teasing him. "You heard him, _fluffy_." He ignored the glare he was given.

"This is serious! You make sure they're safe. Try not to get too close to them. Better to keep the distance, for all of us." He remarked. He nodded and they all dispersed through the woods again.

He still glared at his ring for a moment, then looked up and smiled to the round white object above. "Okay, Wind! Let's go and find them!"

* * *

 **Hello there everyone!**

 **It's been a while, huh? And the ending was a bit cliffy too... Just like I wanted. _Aaand_ back to the beginning, has anyone ever done something that kind of... smart, to write about  that stuff? It was hard to think of a good way to write it, but if you think about it, it could actually happen. However other people usually skip that because it's weird. I'm not other people.**

 **Okay, I need to tell you guys something. The reason I didn't update any chapter earlier was because I'm half way through the next chapter. I didn't want to publish this one until I had the other one done, so if I got 30 reviews (which I'm sure I was gonna get), I could publish it later on the day. But I've already started school. Yes, here in my country schools work this way, and I've got tons of homework. So that's basically why I didn't want to publish anything, but I really care for all my readers and decided that even if I just updated this chapter, I would do it. So here you have it. Although I wished I had done something better than this, but I'm so stressed out with school work and getting up at 5am. Please understand my situation, you guys mean so much for me and I don't wanna disappoint you. Unfortunately when I reach the 30 reviews, I won't be able to update a second chapter, so sorry.**

 **Hope you like the chapter. Don't forget to follow or favorite this story to not miss anything. As always, reviews, PMs and suggestions are greatly appreciated! Until next time...**

 **Scout017, out.**


	8. Portrait of Hiccup as a Buff Young Man

Ahti and I stared at the houses in awe, as we carried inside our things. Finally we got each one a house of our own! It was quite simple like any other house in the village with only two floors. Well, mine had one floor only.

We did not have too much things yet, but we did were carrying some boxes with some stuff. Like blankets, pajamas, clothes and... And air? There was really not anything else. I went to his house and Ahti greeted me from upstairs while I awaited on the first floor.

"I like the house." Ahti said from his room as he got his things out. "It's very...empty."

"Really?" I asked sarcastically. "I couldn't tell!"

"We need to decorate this place." He yelled. There was a _thump!_ and I paused. "Ow! And way more comfortable beds!"

I chuckled. I walked towards his room and the door was open, so I leaned at the wall and saw him rubbing his back sat on the wooden bed. "I know they're vikings but this is just ridiculous!" He exclaimed. I sat besides him and we both lay down gently this time, but it was still uncomfortable. I gained an idea.

"Would you like to paint your room?" I asked.

He looked at me. "How exactly? What do you have in mind?"

I shrugged. "Don't know. I have an idea how to decor mine. Maybe paint a Sun and paint some dragons, flowers... Stars... A moon... "

"Well, at least you have an idea. I have too little creativity to have an actual idea of how I want my own room."

I looked at him with a frown. "You could try and make it like your own room back home, you know?" He considered and nodded.

"Yeah, I can try. But not today." He stood up and I followed him downstairs.

"Why not? We can get some paint and start working on the houses. Painting the walls. We'll sleep on the meantime with Astrid and Hiccup like we have done 'till now, and once we've finished then we'll officially move. Sounds good?"

He grinned. "Fine you win. Let's get some paint."

We rode our dragons and flew towards the forge, where we knew Gobber was at. We asked him for some cans and he told us he had plenty since they were used to fix viking houses all the time because the raids, but now they were just forgotten at the forge. We brought all the paint we could on a cart to our houses.

"Okay." I said with a sigh as I placed the last cans off the cart on the front of my house and Ahti did the same with his. Good thing we were going to live besides each other. "Now, where do we start?"

He whistled. I turned to him and he raised a hand showing me a hammer. "We have to check everything's fine, don't we?"

"Sure we do. But mine's alright."

"Well, mine too. I guess I brought this for nothing." He left it aside and grabbed a can of paint. I grabbed a broom and started to clean all my house.

At the end of the day we finished doing our labors, and we went to the Great Hall to have dinner with the other teens. Walking.

On our way, I remembered what happened a few days ago and I eyed from the corner of my eye to Ahti's neck, where small dark bruises were healing. We hadn't talked about it again, but I still need to know who attacked him and who saved him.

"Hey, how are you doing with the dragon?" I asked, having real curiosity of what happened with the Timberjack after it healed completely. All I knew at the moment is that Ahti took care of him.

"Pretty good. And he has a name now. Oak." He said with a hint of pride. Not a bad name. Before I could ask why did he decide that name, he replied like if he read my mind. "I named him after the Oak trees." At first it sounded weird, but it was his dragon and I couldn't judge him since some of the Dragon Riders names for their dragons were even weirder, so I nodded in understanding.

The teens were all so busy talking about the portrait of Hiccup and Stoick that would be showed up tomorrow to all the village and be placed with the other chiefs and their sons when we arrived. They barely noticed us.

"Look at all these great leaders." Astrid said gesturing a hand to all the portraits, and even if they weren't as good as photographs, you could still make out the paintings.

"And tomorrow, your picture's going to be hanging right next to them!" I said with joy and Hiccup smiled back nervously.

Snotlout snorted. "There goes the neighborhood." He muttered before leaving the table. As we all stood up, I froze at my place when I heard him.

"Wait, what?"

"Oh, don't you know?" He asked feigning innocence and a smirk spread on his lips. "I asummed that I this point Hiccup would have told you!" Snotlout said with a grin as the twins smirked and Hiccup groaned. "I mean, since you two live together, and..." He started to make kissing sounds, the twins chuckling.

"Snotlout, would you stop?" Hiccup said irritated.

"Actually, we now have houses of our own." Ahti pointed out.

"But what does he means with what he said? What haven't you told me?" I placed my hands on my hips narrowing my eyes.

"Yeah. What is..." Suddenly Ahti's eyes went huge as moons and he gasped. " _Oohhh_... That." He said. "Really? Haven't you told her?" He asked Hiccup. I deadpanned.

"Really? Can somebody tell me, WHAT ARE YOU NOT TELLING ME?!" I screamed.

"HICCUP AND SNOTLOUT ARE COUSINS!" A different voice yelled silencing us. We turned around and we saw Fishlegs covering his mouth with large eyes. "Sorry, I don't like when you guys fight."

I turned to Hiccup. " _Cousins_?" I repeated and he sighed. "Would you like to explain this to me...?

"My father has a younger brother." He explained. "His name is Spitelout. And he has a son..." He glared at Snotlout, but Snotlout wasn't paying attention.

"Who is it?" He asked and we all stared at him. Astrid cleared her throat. "Oh, right. Who else would you be talking about?"

We all stood up from the table and passed by the wall, admiring the portraits to forget about the recent discovery. My _recent_ discovery.

"You are part of an elite group now, my friend." Fishlegs said. "And one of the few who wasn't killed by their successor."

Ahti and I stared at each other in horror. Not that we were gonna ask that.

"I guess it is a pretty big deal." Hiccup replied a bit nervous. "I mean, it's like... being a part of history, right?"

"Hiccup, you are already part of history." Ahti said.

"History of goof-balls." Snotlout replied as he gestured with his thumb to one of the portraits. There were two persons, a blonde viking and besides him I supposed his son was standing. "Heh-heh, what a clown."

"That is Hamish the First." Fishlegs said. "He was our richest and most revered leader. And his son, Hamish the Second."

~ _So Katniss knew Hamish the Third?~_

"'I'm Hamish the First.'" Snotlout mocked. "'Bow down before me and kiss my pointy shoes.'"

Tuffnut and Ruffnut did bent down, one in front of him and the other behind. But suddenly Ruff pushed Snotlout over Tuffnut and he tripped over. They chuckled even more when the portrait fell in Snotlout's head.

"Look what you did to the Hamishes!" Fishlegs squealed as he placed the shield back to its place. "Forgive us, please!"

But a paper flew from behind to the floor. Snotlout noticed first and picked it up.

"What's that? It's probably mine!" Tuffnut said as he tried to grab it.

"Looks like some sort of map..." He said. "With _poetry_." He added with disgust. Ahti eyed the paper but before he could do anything, another hand grabbed it.

"I'll take that." Gobber appeared.

"Hey! That's my poetry map!" Snotlout reached for it but Gobber stopped him. He then scanned the paper and his eyes widened.

"All of these were supposed to be destroyed." He said mostly to himself.

"Why? What's so special about it?" Astrid asked as she did her own attempt on trying to reach for it, but Gobber moved his arm away.

"Men lost their limbs, their lives, and their minds trying to find that treasure." Gobber explained, looking at all of us.

"I've heard about this!" Fishlegs exclaimed exited, and we all drew our attention towards him. "The treasure of Hamish the First. His son buried him with it and left this map. They say that the clues are so complicated that only a brilliant mind can decipher them."

Ahti eye widened when Fishlegs finished and he gave a small gasp, but only I noticed. He looked bewildered, as if a sudden memory came to him in just a second. Hold on... If he remembered something, then he knew more about this map and the treasure. And talking about treasures...

"Stoick and I even wen' after this treasure." Gobber said. "It lured us high into the mountains in a blindin' snow storm. We fough' like badgers over the meanin' of the clues. We were lucky to make it back with our lives... and our friendship intact." He looked at us. "For yer own good kids, forget yeh ever saw this." He warned us. Then he walked away with the map and I turned to my friend crossed of arms.

From the corner of his eyes he saw me, then he turned and looked at me completely. "What?"

"Come on, tell me. What did you remember now?"

He sighed and gestured me to follow him with a movement of his fingers. We sat on a table alone, just the two of us. He checked the others were distracted before he spoke.

"I know about that treasure Gobber talked about." He lowered his voice so only I would hear him.

"The treasure of Hamish the First?" I asked as quietly as I could and he nodded.

"Yes, but in one of the books it wasn't from Hamish the First. It was from Stoick's grandfather, Grimbeard the Ghastly." Wow. What a name. If his parents wanted to scare off trolls like Hiccup once told me, I think they did more than just that. "Hiccup and Fishlegs found a coffin in a sword fighting lesson, and though it said 'DO NOT OPEN BY ALL MEANS' or something like that," he emphazised. "Of course they opened it." He shook his head.

 _Vikings_. I thought. "What was in it?" I asked with interest.

"Two things. One, a reason to not open said coffin and two, the map with poetry like Snotlout said. Long story short, it lead to a treasure that anyone would be comfortable with. But the true treasure only a smart-headed and a worthy one could find." His eyes flickered to Hiccup and I realized we was telling me that in this book he found the real treasure. So if my calculations were not wrong, he would find it again.

"Where was it after all?"

"Well, In the book the real treasure was in a cave underwater where a poisonous octopus-like dragon lived. But I'm not so sure it's gonna be the same way since in the books Alvin appears too but he's described way different from the series."

Then I furrowed my eyebrows and crossed my arms again. "You're not so sure? You don't remember this episode either?"

"I'm afraid I do not remember all of it. But little by little, I'm remembering some few pictures of the episodes."

At some point I understood. He saw the series years ago, I couldn't blame him for not remembering specific details, it was a miracle he remembered some things! But maybe if he remebered them, then we could avoid some events in the future.

* * *

The next day we couldn't wait to see the new portrait. I almost couldn't sleep thinking about it. The shield was covered with a purple clothe so we did not had the least idea of how it was like. Finally, Bucket made a gesture to it and removed the blanket. But when he did...

"Whoa. What happened to Hiccup?" Tuffnut raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side, staring cautiously at the shield that was nothing like Hiccup.

"Who cares?" Astrid said as she and Ruff stared dreamily at the shield. I could guess why...

Because the new portrait was of Hiccup and Stoick indeed, but not of Hiccup himself. He was ten times stonger and he was posing while smiling, and Stoick raised his hammer as he placed a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Hey, Bucket?" Hiccup called and if you looked to the real Hiccup again, you wouldn't believe it was really him. Because he wasn't. "Wh-why am I so... like _that_?" He couldn't find the words to describe...whatever that was. And apparently, neither could I.

"Why is the sky blue?" Bucket replied poetically. "Why do I have a bucket on me head?" he placed an arm around Hiccup and told him at the ear with a clear voice even we could hear from our places. "We'll never know the answers."

Stoick showed up then with a mug with ale on his hand and a big familiar smile. It was the same look he had when Hiccup was going to kill the nightmare, he was proud of something Hiccup was not.

"Oh, you did a brilliant job, Bucket!" He said. "Don't you think so, son?"

"But it's not me." He simply answered.

"Sure it is!" He assured, although he was not even looking to his son's direction. "It's you but... you know, _bigger_. _Stronger_." He emphasized the last words.

"Now, _that's_ the son of a Chief." Mulch said from behind, as he and Stoick shook hands and shared laughs.

"You see what I mean?"

Hiccup gave a last sad look to the portrait and sighed.

 _Moments later..._

Ahti and I caught up with Astrid and Hiccup, who were walking the opposite way of the Great Hall.

"Unbelievable!" Hiccup exclaimed as I walked besides him. "My father likes better that painting than the real me. I mean, think about it...even my name. You know it's viking tradition to name the runt of the litter 'hiccup'."

I ran in front of them stopping them in their tracks. "You're a runt?" I asked Hiccup and they all stared at me. I wanted to take back the words as soon as they went out. I really had to work on think-first-ask-questions-later. "I'm sorry. It's just...you never told me."

"I thought it was pretty obvious." Hiccup replied, not caring much about the question. "I can't even lift a sword without struggling."

"So what? I can't either." I gestured to myself and crossed my arms. "What's the difference, exactly?"

Okay, now I deserved a slap in the face. Astrid was glaring at me and if glares could kill, I would be a mount of dust right now.

Hiccup sighed softly, not noticing Astrid's hard glare in the slightest. "I was born before the nine months."

I gave a small gasp. He...he was premature.

...so what?

He wasn't the first premature I met, one of my classmates was a premature as well. Her name was Danielle, and she was born three months before. She was smaller, skinnier and couldn't do very good at physical education, but she was my friend. And she had a normal life like everybody else. Even if Hiccup was a premature, a runt, a hiccup... There was no difference between him and anyone else.

"That's not an excuse." The three of them looked at me with a confused expression, but Ahti looked rather tired of me being so stubborn and not leaving the theme aside. They did not say anything so I continued. "Hiccup, doesn't matter what you're named. What matters is the person you're gonna be."

"Yeah, try to tell that to my Dad. What do I have to do so he accepts me?"

"Hiccup, your father does accept you..." Astrid replied placing a hand on his shoulder. "He just, accepts the painting more."

I rolled my eyes. Soon we walked by the forge, to notice something weird. Fishlegs was standing there, with his hands hiden behind his back. Now, something was not right here and we all knew it, he wouldn't just stand there usually.

"Wh-what are you doing out here...?" Hiccup asked raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing!" Fishlegs replied almost instantly and suddenly he started to make bird sounds. " _Coocoo! Coocoo!_ " We all groaned understanding what was going on.

"Oh, gods..." Hiccup moaned. "Okay, where are they?"

"Who?" Fishlegs asked as if he did not knew what they were asking him and then did owl sounds. " _Who-hoo! Who-hoo!_ "

We just walked past him and saw the twins standing besides a window, when suddenly Snotlout got out of it falling face-first to the floor.

"What are you mutton-heads doing?" I asked narrowing my eyes and placing my hands on my hips.

Snotlout grinned in triumph as he held a scroll on his hand. "I've got the map. We're finding that treasure!" He exclaimed and then pointed accusingly at Fishlegs. "And you are a horrible look out." Fishlegs looked away sheepishly.

"You heard what Gobber said." Astrid said. "The bravest warriors in history have died trying to find that treasure."

"Yeah. And I'm next." Snotlout said without a care.

"Well, I personally would like to live to see my next birthday." Astrid crossed her arms and Ahti and I nodded, especially me since I would turn sixteen and I was planning to have a 'Sweet Sixteen' or just something to celebrate with my friends.

"We'll be legends! They'll sing songs about us." Fishlegs exclaimed like if he was changing his mind and we looked at him incredously.

"You'll be dead. Come on, guys, not even Stoick could find it."

"You're right. He couldn't..." Hiccup realized and walked towards Snotlout, snatching the map from their hands and staring right at it. We smiled in relief, until Hiccup spoke up. "Where do we start?"

We looked at him like if a third eye had just appeared on his forehead. He couldn't be serious. But if I thought about what Ahti told me, maybe it wasn't a bad idea after all. He was trying to prove himself and show to his father what he could do. If I happen to have such an opportunity to show my mom what I could do, I would do it. And even if we tried to stop them, they would not listen.

"You're gonna go after this no matter what we say, right?" I asked in a way telling the other between lines that there was no way of changing their mind. "So, yeah, pretty great." I walked besides them.

"So, you're not gonna give me a hard time about this?" Hiccup asked us.

"Oh, _I_ 'll give you a hard time. Every step of the way." Astrid said as she placed her index finger on Hiccup's chest.

"But there's no way in the name of all the Gods that we're gonna let you go alone with them." Ahti pointed towards the twins, who were slapping each other. More like, Ruffnut punching Tuffnut in the face.

"Harder! I said I want to see stars!" Tuffnut yelled as Ruff punched him again, this time putting him in a daze and I chuckled when he made a funny expression.

We turned our attention towards the paper, and we all spotted drawings on it of what we supposed those were the places we would have to go. And the riddles seemed to be the clues. Snotlout snatched the map and then read out lout the first clue.

"Clue number one: Where the land meets the sea, in the crook of the master's knee, that's where your search will be...gin." He eyed the map in confusion.

"That doesn't sound so brilliant." Ruff pointed out and she was right. It did not made so much sense.

"Okay. Think, think, think, think, think. Think, think..." Tuff closed his eyes as he hit his face with his fist, then he looked at us. "I forgot what I was thinking about."

"Um...well, I believe that 'land meets the sea' refers to a beach..." I said as I repeated the riddle on my head again and again. "But I have no clue on what does he means with 'the crook of the master's knee'. We don't even know who is this Master."

"Wait a minute." Hiccup said as he repeated the riddle. "The master's knee? I think I know!"

He lead us way back to the Great Hall as we looked at the portrait of the Hamishes.

"Look, right there, where his knee bends." Hiccup said. "It's pointing to this spot on the beach!" On the portrait we could see a sea stack at the background. "That's where we start!"

 _Later..._

We all arrived to the sea stack and from there we could see a different part of the island, which was covered in ice. My eyes widened in amazement as I caught sight of it, never in my entire life saw a glacier this close. I always saw them on movies, but never went to Canada or the Arctic or something like that. Though, when it was winter back home, there was a lake near the house where my brother would take Lucy and me ice skating. I do ice skating, actually in a few months there's gonna be a competition and I'm very exited to be in it. But mom refuses to go. I don't get why she doesn't want to come to watch me.

"Listen up, you guys." Hiccup called as he read the next clue. "From here you will see the seed that's been sown. Look to where water turns to bone."

"Water turns to bone? Hamish isn't even trying to make sense!" Snotlout exclaimed.

"I have to agree with him." Ahti spoke up. "I mean, you couldn't sow the water unless it was solid, but it doesn't make much sense either."

"If water solidified it would turn to ice... He must mean the glacier!" Hiccup said with a smile as we flew to it. It was an ice cave, but it reminded me of Elsa's castle. I wondered if someone lived here once.

"There's something in there." Astrid pointed to a black blurred object on the ice, next to a frozen viking who had an arm extended towards it.

"I bet that guy saw it too." Fishlegs muttered.

Hiccup pulled out the map and read the third clue. "Call on Magni, you'll go astray. Freya, though, will show the way."

Before I could ask who were Magni and Freya, Snotlout knelt on the floor and started banging the ice with his helmet. It was actually working when we saw the ice was fracturing, but we gasped when a huge mace with three spikes swung down about to hit Snotlout. Fortunately, Hiccup pushed him out of the way in time, and the mace smashed the wall besides them, then regained its original position.

"We can't break the ice." Hiccup said as we helped them get to their feet. "That's what Magni means. He's the God of Strength."

An idea went right through my mind as I remembered FROZEN and RotG. When Elsa ran away from Arendelle, the only way to make the ice disappear was melting it, not cracking it. And by the way, when Jack saved his sister, the ice he was standing on cracked and gave in, Jack falling into the cold water.

I looked down at the cracks in the ice, then at the giant mace and then to Toothless, who was looking at us from a certain spot all our dragons where waiting. "If we can't break it...we can melt it." I said.

"That's right! And Freya..."

"Is the Goddess of Fire!" Hiccup and Fishlegs finished together.

"And that's exactly what we're going to use." Hiccup said as we all looked towards Toothless. "Toothless... You know what to do."

Toothless jumped down and Hiccup gestured him to melt the ice. Toothless opened his jaw and shot fire towards the crack, melting a hole big enough so Hiccup could reach for the object.

"Ow!" He yelped when he touched the object recently heated. He awaited for some seconds for it to cool down and then he finally grabbed it. It was a very strange shaped object, I must admit.

"That's it? This is the treasure?" Ruffnut asked in disappointment. Hiccup shook his head with a slight smile.

"No. Can't be. But I bet this will lead us to it."

Tuffnut suddenly snatched the object from his hands and extended his arm as he talked to it. "Take us to the treasure!" He ordered.

"Let me know if it answers." Astrid joked as we approached them. Hiccup got it back and examined it.

"This is just the first piece."

Suddenly, the whole cavern started shaking and the ice started to crack even more, separating us.

"EARTHQUAKE!" I screamed. Everyone was failing on keeping their balance, mostly me.

"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup called as Toothless and the others dragons came to our rescue just in time. We jumped to their backs and flew out of there as fast as possible as we watched from the outside how it broke apart. I sighed in relief and thanked the Gods that we were not inside fives seconds ago.

Thora looked up at me and I scratched her on the back. We were doing good so far, and at this rate we would get all the pieces we needed by dusk, which was good news for everybody. Especially for Hiccup, who never in his whole life looked more determined than... Wait, he did. When I first met him and Vikings and dragons were enemies.

We flew for another hour until we reached a sea stack and Hiccup read to us the next clue.

"At the edge of the world, amidst the raging sea, in the serpent's mouth, lies another key."

"Serpents?" Tuff repeated. "I hate serpents. Those are reptiles, right?"

"You do realize you're sitting on one?" Ruff asked as Tuff jumped in surprise and I giggled.

"Hey! That cloud looks like a snake." Snotlout said as he pointed to the sky.

"Yeah, and in five minutes, it'll look like a bunny." Astrid deadpanned.

"Wait-wait-wait a minute." Hiccup said. "He might be onto something. In the mouth... lies the key."

"I say that a dragon must have the key." I spoke up. "It must be either a tooth or it ate the key, which none of them seem good options."

"I don't think he means actually a reptile, Annabelle." Hiccup explained. Then he looked to the map and his eyes widened. "Look! Right there!" He pointed to another sea stack right in front of us. If you had a lot of creativity and imagination, which I happened to have both, you could see it looked like a snake. Hiccup compared it to the map and smiled. "Toothless, let's go!"

Before he could fly off, Fishlegs stopped him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa a-are you crazy? You can't take a Night Fury with a wingspan of forty-eight feet and expect him to hover in winds like _that_! You'll be killed!"

Hiccup looked down to Meatlug and grinned to Fishkegs. "Well, what's the wingspan of Meatlug?"

Fishlegs eyes widened and he face palmed. "Me and my big mouth." He muttered. Hiccup dismounted Toothless and jumped to the back of Meatlug, behind Fishlegs. But Astrid interfered.

"Hold on, how exactly are you planning to get the key? If it's actually in the mouth, not even Meatlug will be able to reach it." She reasoned and we realized she was right.

After a minute nobody said a word and we all lost hope on finding it, until Ahti talked.

"I think I know." He said as he dismounted Oak and searched on the backpack attached to his saddle for something. He turned around with a rope on his hands. "This must be helpful." He said with a grin and I was openmouthed.

"How did you know we were gonna use it?" I asked in shock. He shrugged.

"I didn't. You never know what you're gonna face on the way, that's why I like to be prepared."

"I'll try to follow your advise."

Fishlegs attached the rope around Meatlug's belly and Hiccup gripped the rope tight as they flew into the air. I prayed to Heaven that he did not let go for any reason, even if he saw a spider. I hated spiders, those eight-legged tiny little round creatures with six eyes that scare the lights out of you when you just painted your nails! ...not that it had happened to me...

"So, any ideas of what the treasure might be?" I asked of a sudden without turning away my eyes from the tiny dot on the sky, which was Meatlug.

"I don't know what it is but I know I'll get most of it." Snotlout said with a smirk.

"You do realize it's gonna be Hiccup's treasure?" Astrid said as Snotlout gaped. "After all, he's the one who had figured out all the clues."

"I could have done it."

"Then why you didn't?" Ahti asked.

"'Cause I didn't want to!"

The gronkle and the two Vikings arrived, smiling from ear to ear. Hiccup raised his hand and he showed us another piece that would lead us to the treasure. We smiled back as he mounted Toothless again and we flew back to the forests of Berk, where he told us the map had a drawing of trees and a stone wall.

We walked on the backs of our dragons through the woods, while Hiccup brought up the two pieces and tried to put them together.

"Look, they fit together!" He exclaimed when they clicked. "We must be on the right track."

"Hiccup, what are you going to do with your part of the treasure?" Ruff asked from the back of Barf.

"I'm not really here for the treasure."

"Great! I get his share!" Snotlout exclaimed. Astrid shook her head.

Thora quicked her pace so we caught up with the rider and the night fury. "You don't have to do this. You know it, right?"

"Yeah, try telling that to my dad." Hiccup replied.

"Hiccup, who cares of what other people have to say? Sometimes the right path I not the easiest one. Sometimes you have to let things be. You don't have to prove anything to anyone so they'll accept you. They have to accept you by who you are."

"That's easy for you to say. You don't have to bear everything they say about yourself 'cause everything you do is right, and people notice. But for me... It's completely different."

Before we realized it, we reached the place of the map.

"This must be the spot. Why else would anybody build a wall in the middle of the woods." Hiccup said more as a statement than a question.

"Uh, duh, to keep out the other trees." Tuff answered.

"I got another one for you. The world is right, when stars align; when not in sync, the danger you'll find."

"Stars?!" Snotlout yelled. "I'm not waiting around here 'till night!"

"No, I don't think he means actual stars. I mean, the water didn't really turn to bone." Hiccup pointed out.

"Well, what do you think it means?" Astrid asked.

"Why are you asking him? Maybe I know." Snotlout said. We all shut up our mouths and looked at him expectantly. When he couldn't figure it out, he dared to talk. "I said, maybe. Turns out, I don't."

"We already knew that." I said as we rolled our eyes.

"Huh... There are shapes carved into each one of these bricks." Fishlegs noticed, pointing to the wall. We all got off the dragons and walked to it.

"Keep a lookout for anything that looks like a star." Hiccup said. We all looked around from brick to brick, until Snotlout began to pull a brick. But as he did so, the whole wall started collapsing.

"Put it back! Put it back! Put it back!" Fishlegs squealed. Snotlout tried with all his strength to push it back, but it was too heavy.

"Hookfang!" He called his dragon, who wasn't paying attention. "HOOKFANG!" Snot lost yelled louder this time and Hookfang came to slam the rock back with his head. The wall stopped at once.

"Okay... It says, in sync." Hiccup read. "That means there must be another star."

"Over here!" Astrid gestured to a brick way upper.

"What if we pull them at the same time?" Ahti suggested. Hiccup smiled at him.

"Ruff? Tuff?" He called.

The twins walked forwards with Barf and Beclh behind them. Tuffnut walked to one brick and Ruffnut to the other, then at the same time, they both made gestures to pull the stones out, as Barf and Belch did as told. They both grabbed a brick with their teeth, and started to pull them out at the same time. We waited for a moment as we heard a mechanism working, before it split in half, letting us in.

One more piece and it was it.

We eyes the cave in pure wonder as we walked in, but soon it got so dark you couldn't see a foot away. And without warning, when all the dragons managed to enter, the wall slammed and closed, leaving us trapped in here.

"Oh, man..." Snotlout moaned.

Hiccup and Astrid managed to find some torches and the dragons lighted them up. At least I could see my hands. And Thora's mouth and eyes were glowing since they were pink.

As we walked deeper into the cave, we found some pedestals with three pieces. They all looked alike, but they were different colors and...

Man, why did it got so hot of a sudden?

I wiped some sweat from my forehead and moved my sleeves way up to my shoulders as I felt I was sweating like a pig on a stove. Ahti removed his furred vest and fanned his face.

"Ugh, it's so hot!" Snotlout said and I felt relieved I wasn't the only one. "Is anybody else hot? 'Cause I'm really hot."

"I know. I'm sweating like a dragon at an eel party." Tuff said.

"Uh, guys?" Astrid called, and the worry of her voice didn't go unnoticed. "Is it just me, or is the floor moving?"

"You've got to be kidding me, I swear I saw the floor move." Ahti said.

Hiccup frowned as he got the fire closer to the floor, as some rat-like things scurried away. This made us feel very uneasy.

"Uh, Toothless, can you give us some light?" Hiccup asked, as Toothless shot a plasma blast upwards, and it lighted up like a giant torch. We soon could see everything and that's when we noticed little yellowish-orange dragons on the floor.

"That's why it's so hot in here. Fireworm dragons!" Fishlegs said in realization.

"What are those?" I asked, not remembering them in the Book of Dragons. Man, I promise I would give an update to that thing as soon as we went back.

Tuffnut had the incredible idea of bending down and extended a hand towards it.

"Stop! Their skin burns hotter than the sun." Hiccup said, apparently knowing this dragons.

"Yeah, but how hot can the sun really be?"

"Very hot. Tuff, don't!" I warned. But it was too late, Tuffnut carried a dragon on his hand and then yelled in pain. "OUCH! AARRGH!"

His voice was so loud that it woke up the pacific dragons, that were spread through the whole cavern. They all started glowing and the dragons tried to scare them off firing at them, but they only started a real fire. Soon, we were getting out of air.

"Grab all of them and let's go!" Snotlout yelled.

Hiccup walked between the three pedestals with the map in his hands. "No, it's a choice. Listen to this, guys. Something pure and something strong. Look first to yourself, and you won't go wrong."

"Strong... That must be the one made of iron." Fishlegs pointed to the first pedestal.

"But iron's not pure. Take the gold." Astrid said pointing towards the other pedestal.

The dragons couldn't even scare the little Fireworms and they were running out of shots and fire. Hookfang soon ran out, but Meatlug replaced him and shot lava at them. Thora couldn't do anything to help but shot to the dragons, since she emitted electricity instead of fire. I was afraid she would run out of shots, she had already used four.

"It's getting really hard to breathe!" Astrid said, trying to clean her face off sweat. But it was no use, more drops of sweat ran down her face. I could literally feel the sweat go down my back and it was disgusting. Now would be a good time to have an ice dragon.

"You might wanna make a decision soon, Hiccup! We don't have much time!" Foshkegs yelled to Hiccup, who didn't seem to we so worried about the fact that we were being roasted alive.

"I can't! They are so confusing!" Hiccup exclaimed.

Meanwhile, the dragons were still fighting to win over the Fireworms, with very little success. Thora gave her last shot at some Fireworms and for a second, a glow blinded me. I looked around for the source and saw it was one of the pedestal, but it was the shiny object that was on top. Then I understood what it meant.

"Hiccup! Look to yourself! Try to do it, literally!" I said.

He nodded at me and soon he went straight towards the shiny piece. "Careful, it could be a trap." Astrid warned. He extended his hands to grab it and waited for anything to happen. When nothing did, he took the piece and paused. Nothing. He smiled.

Then, all the Fireworms ran away and the ground started shaking. Hiccup noticed too late and he fell into a chasm when the floor gave in.

"Hiccup!" I cried. I looked into it but ther was no sign either of him or Toothless.

"Oh, no! Hurry!" Astrid said "Where'd he go?! Hiccup!"

"We gotta get out of here!" Tuffnut yelled, as more rocks began to fell from the walls and the roof, giving us almost no space and trapping us. Fortunately, there was an opening on one side of the cave.

"Through there!" Snotlout said as we all mounted our dragons, but I did just to stop them.

"No! We're not leaving them!" I said firmly as Thora roared and stood in a fighting stance.

"If we don't go now we'll all be trapped. There won't be anybody to help Hiccup." Fishlegs argued, but I refused to leave.

"We'll find another way, Ann. Right now, if we don't go we'll end up buried here."

I growled, but we took flight and got out of the cave as soon as possible. Moments later the exit collapsed and we started to dig. Well, more like Astrid, Fishlegs, Ahti and me. The dragons were tired and they were resting. Thor knows what the twins and Snotlout were doing.

"Keep digging! We've gotta find them!" Astrid said as we removed the heaviest rocks we could lift.

"Find who?" A booming voice said behind us and we stopped, as we shared concerned looks. Stoick. And he wasn't alone, Gobber came with him on the back of the Thunderdrum. Stoick's expression turned to a worried one when he noticed his son was missing. "Son."

As we returned to dig, I wondered what was Hiccup going through and if they would find the treasure. I had faith in him, but Hamish made sure of the clues to not be so simple and put booby traps everywhere so only a smart Viking would know how to deactivate them. Hiccup was super smart, and he had proven that already, but he was also stupid enough to not know when to quit.

"Keep digging! That's my son in there!" Stoick said.

There was a loud rumble and we turned around to see a part of a hill not far away going down. We ran towards it and the smoke cleared, revealing Hiccup and Toothless to be alright. Instinctively, I ran towards them and embraced Hiccup in a tight hug. Seconds later, we were both lifted in a bear hug by two beefy strong arms.

"Uh... Dad... can't... breathe." Hiccup chocked out and Stoick realeased us. I held my stomach and gave deep breathes.

"Oh, Hiccup, you're okay." Astrid breathed in relief.

"Thank Thor you're alive! What happened?" Fishlegs asked.

"Blah, blah, blah. Who cares?" Snotlout said. "Where's the treasure?"

Until now I noticed the scroll Hiccup had in one hand and a quill in the other. He unrolled the scroll and saw a very familiar image, until he cleared it up for us. "This is Hamish's real son." He explained as he showed us the image. There was Hamish the First alright, but Hamish the Second was just as skinnish as Hiccup.

Snotlout's face fell. "That's not treasure." He said in disappointment, but Astrid elbowed him.

Stoick knelt and placed his hands on his son's shoulders. "To a father, it is." Then he spoke to Hiccup. "I never meant to make you feel like you had to do something like this." He apologized.

"I know, Dad. But I had to do it. For myself." The two of them shared smiles and then embraced each other in a warm hug.

When we returned to Berk, we made sure they got rid of the painting and be replaced by a new one, where Hiccup had the scroll on his hands, his old helmet and he was shown as he was. The best part was that Stoick had a hand on his shoulder, showing a proud smile.

Ahti and I smiled, and we both agreed in one thing. There was no great treasure than a father's love. I may have not fully known my own father, but I know he loved me and my family, and that was all that mattered.

* * *

 **Hello everyone! How y'all doing?**

 **Ooof, done! After so much time, it's finally here! I'm so, SO sorry I didn't updated a second chapter, but I was having a hard time at High School and I had the writer's block. And though, here is the chapter! Now, the next time I do a double chapter update will be if I reach 50 reviews, 75, 100, etc.**

 **Thank you for all the reviews, I promise that further in the story I'll be answering every single review since the first chapter because you guys have been so supporting and you always leave so lovely comments. Thank you so much!**

 **I hope you enjoy the chapter. If you haven't fav or followed yet, do it so you won't miss anything! And it's FREE! Reviews and suggestions are greatly appreciated :) Until next time...**

 **Scout017, out.**


	9. Dragon Flower

"Hiccup?"

"Up here."

I walked upstairs to his room, where I found him making a sketch of Toothless. Just as he was going to insert his quill into more ink, he realized it ran out. He lifted the bottle and looked at the inside closing one eye. He sighed.

"Well, thank Thor Trader Johann will come later." He said as he left the drawing aside. Man, he was very good at it. Maybe he could help me with the Book of Dragons. Toothless let a toothless yawn and curled up to rest.

"Who's Trader Johann?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"He's a man that comes every once in a while and sells a lot of stuff we don't have on Berk." Hiccup explained. "People tend to get very exited and try to buy the best they can."

"Oh, I get it." I nodded. "When he's coming?"

He stood up. "Maybe we should go and see. He may have already arrived."

 _Later..._

Hiccup and I flew in the back of our dragons to the docks, just in time when we heard Bucket yelling that Trader Johann had arrived. We shared smiles before we raced to the boats. We landed in the docks as we waited for the trader to place a plank of wood so we could step in his boat. He had a brown mustache and a beard, he wore a beanie, and a blue with red outfit that was evident he was not from a viking tribe.

"Ah, Berk, my favorite of all the islands I travel to." He said with a grin.

"Where have you been this time, Trader Johann?" Bucket asked like a child who was about to receive a present.

"Oh, Bucket, the things I've seen, the people I've met! I'd need a week to regale you, but alas, we have limited time to conduct our business together." Johann replied as he stepped on a crate and talked out loud so everyone will hear him. "Whatever it is you're looking for I can assure you you'll find it here!" He announced, as he let the people aboard his ship and soon everyone started to browse for anything of their like.

Since it was my first time, I did not have any money to buy anything, so I just looked. If something caught my attention, I examined it and watched it carefully, before placing it back to where it lay.

There was a book that caught my attention and I opened it to see it's content. But as I read the first page, a hand on my shoulder caught me by surprise, making me slam the book shut as I turned around. I found Trader Johann behind me.

"I'm sorry for startling you miss, but I see you watch plenty of the stuff and then you place it back." He said. I looked to the book and pressed my mouth into a thin line.

"It's just I do not own any money to spend, mister. I certainly wanna buy some things that interest me, but without any money I'm not looking any forward to steal." I explained as I laid the book aside among other scrolls. The Trader looked at it before grabbing it and looking at me.

"Well, you see miss, I'm not called a trader for nothing." He said as I furrowed my eyebrows. "You see, there's not need for money. If you got anything that's new and valuable for me, I will consider trading it by anything you like from the ship."

My eyes went wide and a grin spread on my lips. I would certainly like to have that book. But what would I trade? I looked to myself and I didn't have anything except for...

My fingers reached the tiny shell from my necklace. It was a good option, it was valuable and it was pretty nice, but I couldn't trade it because Hiccup gave it to me. There was no way I would change it.

With a sigh, I turned to Johann. "Sorry, I don't have anything."

"I'll take it." Another voice said. I turned around and saw Ahti with a satchel.

"What?" I said.

"Excellent." Trader Johann said. "But what are you gonna trade it for, mister?"

Ahti took out from his satchel a little round object with feathers at the bottom. He showed it to the man and Johann eyed the item with awe, it was a Dreamcatcher. It was beautiful but, why whould he have a Dreamcatcher?

"What about this Dreamcatcher?" He offered to Johann, who took it in his hands and watch it with interest. "You know, Dreamcatchers are capable of trapping nightmares and bring good dreams to the one that owns it. It's made with feathers of a Legendary bird, gemstones from an Enchanted Cave, the finest strings and the most resistant metal you could find. Sounds pretty fair, no?"

Johann chuckled. "Ho ho ho, it is more tan fair. Consider it done, it was a pleasure to make business with you, mister." He bowed his head before walking away. Ahti handed me the book and we walked out of the ship and towards our dragons.

"Tell me, you," I began. "What supposedly Legendary Bird was that one you talked to Johann about?" I placed my free hand on my hip and Ahti smirked.

"Oh, a true legend, for sure." He replied. "No more and no less than a chicken."

I stopped death on my tracks as he covered his mouth, trying his best not to laugh. I gaped at him. "You're joking." He shook his head as he continued shaking of laughter. He took from his satchel some more feathers and then pointed to a chicken, telling me he grabbed them form it. "Oh my God, I can't believe it." I covered my mouth and we laughed in silence.

"I know." He said putting them back. "It took me an hour to chase and trap that chicken for just some feathers. Curious fact, they're pretty fast but they do not fly."

"But, why did you do it?"

"Because I saw the look in your face and knew that you really wanted that book. There must have been something really interesting that you would want to have it, so I thought that I would get it for you."

I smiled kindly at him as I moved the book against my chest and then I hugged my friend. "Thank you!" I cried in hapiness. He hugged me back. "What did you get?"

Ahti showed me a blank notebook. "I'm planning on writting a journal about this place. I am going to write as much things I can about Dragons, and who knows... maybe I discover new species as well."

"If that ever happens, you'll have to take me with you."

"Done."

"Hey, guys!" A voice called as we heard footsteps run through the grass. Hiccup caught up with us. "So what did you trade?"

I showed him my book and he admired it. "But the thing is, it's written in Norse. Just like any other book around here." I said with a sigh. "I'm gonna need to learn how to read Norse and Runes or I'm gonna have real trouble soon." I said, giving a few sniffs and cleaning my nose with my sleeve.

"Same here." Ahti nodded in agreement.

"I could show you." Hiccup said. "I promise I'll help you guys, and you will learn in no time. Up for it?"

"Sure. Now, let's go to the Academy. I swear I saw the twins carrying something." I said as we mounted our dragons. Hiccup and Ahti took flight first and as we were about to follow them, Thora sneezed and shot a blast of electricity. "Whoa! Are you okay, girl?"

 **"I think so... Just an allergy, I believe..."**

"Dragons have allergies?" I raised my eyebrows in surprise. She nodded at me and took flight. "I'll have to write that down, to prevent you guys from getting sick." I scratched her scales of her neck and she purred in response.

At the Academy, the twins brought up a giant statue and placed it at the center, so we could all have a good look at. It was really amazing.

"How does that look?" Tuff asked.

"Beautiful." His sister said.

"You got them just for the Academy?" Hiccup asked as he walked over the statue.

"Yeah, we got them from Trader Johann. We had to give him our great-grandfather's skull. We got to keep his clavicle." Tuffnut explained.

This was unusual, but it was a nice gesture, and probably the first I've seen of the twins so far. They always were up for destruction and pranks on people just for fun, and I had a felling they did not get it just to have it as decoration.

"You know, it's about time you guys started taking some pride in this place." Hiccup said, as Tuffnut turned around.

"Duck!"

"What?" Hiccup turned around as well, and they jumped away just as Barf and Belch spread gas and lighted it up way to the statue. To our surprise, it was still intact, though it did move backwards a little bit.

"That... was... awesome! I wanna take a shot!" Snotlout exclaimed as he mounted Hookfang. "Fire!"

Hookfang shot a stream of fire at it, Stormfly shot her spines, Meatlug threw lava, Thora shot a blast, and Toothless plasma-blasted it too, but missed. I looked at Toothless, who sneezed again and almost hit Snotlout.

"Ahh! Hey! Could you have your dragon cover his mouth when he sneezes?" Snotlout demanded.

"I'm sorry, but that's never happened before." Hiccup noticed as he walked to his dragon, who sneezed again. I walked to them.

"Toothless, are you alright?" I asked as I petted him.

 **"I'm good, really."**

" _Suuuure_?" I asked and he nodded, then he nuzzled me lovingly. I let out a chuckle. "Okay, I guess you are-"

Before I could finish the sentence there was a _Boom!_ and we turned around to see Thora was sneezing as well. I cleaned my nose with my sleeve again and walked to my dragon.

"Thora, what's going on?"

 **"I already told you. Just... an..."** She sneezed again and shook her head. **"Allergy."**

"I think Gothi should have a check on you." I suggested as I caressed her head.

 **"There is no need Anna, how about a flight!"** She said with so much excitement I almost forgot she was behaving like she was getting sick.

"Fine, but the moment I see you're getting worst, we'll go straight to Gothi without complains."

She roared and soon we bolted up to the sky. She did loops in the air and then we flew along Astrid and Toothless, but Toothless didn't seem very good. I had spent enough time here to compare when a dragon was fine and something was wrong in it, and I could tell my dragon was not fine, but she wouldn't admit it.

I feared something worst happened if she didn't get treat soon. Maybe I should just take her to Gothi without asking her, just to make sure she was okay. And also, to investigate about dragon allergies, I needed to know more of that topic. What if the dragons were reacting to something they were allergic to and we had no idea?

We flew over the village and I had to clean my nose again. Something was wrong with me too. I was not allergic to anything so far, except for...

"Look at those flowers!" Astrid exclaimed as she bent down to look at them. "They're beautiful."

Just as she said that, both Toothless and Thora started getting out of control. Toothless sneezed so close to Stormfly, Astrid had to duck so she wouldn't take the shot.

"Hey! What are you two doing?!" She yelled to us. I tried to gain control of Thora, but with all the spinning I couldn't see straight and I was barely holding of my saddle, gripping it for dear life.

"It's not me!" Hiccup yelled back, having the same problem, and theirs was worst since they were almost touching the ground. With all this situation and my lunch making its way towards my throat the only thing I managed to hear was Hiccup's scream as he was thrown off Toothless' back.

"Thora, stop!"

 **"I can't!"**

"ThoraaaAAARRGH!" I screamed as we plummeted to the ground. We crashed on the cold floor and I was thrown of her back as well, rolling way down a hill. I groaned in pain and pulled myself up, running uphill to attend my dragon. "Thora?" I asked with worry. She didn't answer. I knelt besides her head and lifted her up a bit. "Girl? You okay?" I asked nervously and she opened her eye. She crooned weakly and lifted her head before she went limb. I gasped. "Hang in there, girl!"

Hiccup walked towards me.

"Annabelle, what happened? Is she okay?"

"No, she was not since the beginning." I shook my head. "I knew I should have take her to Gothi in the first place."

"Why? Do you know what's going on with our dragons?" Astrid asked concerned and I nodded.

"I think they're getting sick, but I don't know why."

Then, a Terrible Terror passed flying by weakly, landing in the ground and sneezing. "Well, whatever it is, looks like he's got it too." Astrid said, carrying the terror in her arms.

"It's spreading on all them." Hiccup realized.

"Let's take them to Gothi before anything else happens." I pleaded.

* * *

After a lot of effort to bring the dragons to Hiccup's house, which it happened to be the closest one at the moment, Gothi, Gobber, Fishlegs and Ahti arrived too when they heard the news. And that wasn't all, soon, their dragons and the gang's were getting sick too.

Gothi came as quickly as posible with some antidotes and stuff to make a diagnostic. Meanwhile, I tried to ask my friend what was happening to the dragons.

"Tell me what do you know about this episode."

"Okay, all I remember is that it involve's a dragon that lives on the sea and Mildew's butt." He said at once. I blinked in shock.

"Seriously?!" I yelled.

"Shhh!" Gobber shushed me and I just gave my friend an 'Are-you-kidding-me' look.

Gothi opened both of our dragons mouths and analized them before grabbing some bones, shaking them, and throwing them to the ground. Then she looked at them carefully.

"I've heard Gothi could tell when you're gonna die, just by looking at your fingernails." Astrid whispered, as Fishlegs hid his hands behind his back.

Gobber walked forwards to translate what Gothi was now writing on the floor. "That's jus' an ol' wives tale." He said. "She looks at your tongue." Fishlegs covered his mouth.

I chuckled at the sight, but suddenly I sneezed, gathering a bit of attention.

"Bless you." Ahti said.

"Sorry." I apologized before they all turned back to Gothi. Gobber stared at the floor and started translating her drawings for us.

"She says they're reactin' to somethin', like they're allergic." Gobber said.

"I knew it." I muttered as I bit my fingernails, looking with extreme worry at the dragons. Probably this was all my fault, I should have said something when I first had the theory something was going on. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't because of me.

"Allergic? To what?" Hiccup asked as he knelt down besides Toothless.

"To a moose wearin' boots." He said, gaining confused looks from the rest of us. "Shouldn't be hard to find." Gothi whacked him on the face with her staff as she continued writing and Gobber realized he translated wrong. "Ahh, they're allergic to somethin' new that's just came to the island. But that still looks like a moose."

Gothi hit him again.

"Well, there are a lot of new things on the island. Trader Johann was just here." Astrid pointed out. Gothi wrote more on the floor and Gobber looked seriously at us.

"She says to get rid of everythin', immediately. Otherwise it's just goin' to get worse. The dragons are goin' to get sicker."

We all shared worried looks and we didn't need to say a word to know we were all agreeing in one thing.

 _At the afternoon..._

The whole village had to leave all what they just got, which meant even us have to get rid of our stuff. So that meant, goodbye to the book. I didn't even had a chance to see the first page.

"I know this is hard, guys, but I promise you, you're doing a good thing. You're helping the dragons." Hiccup said, encouraging the Vikings and making it seem it wasn't that bad.

"It's the least we can do for them." Astrid continued.

Well it had to be pretty serious, because even Snotlout had no problem at all throwing his new mirror on the pile, and that was impressive.

"What are you doing?! Throw it in!" Ruffnut said to Fishlegs, who was flipping through the pages of his new book like crazy trying to learn as much as he could.

"I'm sorry! But this botany book is a real page-turner! I gotta know how it ends!" Ruffnut just snatched it from his hands and threw it into the pile. "No, Ruffnut!" Fishlegs cried, although he did not make any effort to get it back.

Hiccup walked over to Gobber and talked to him. Then Gobber walked behind a pile of rocks and threw into the pile some purple underwear, which made me shudder.

"I could have gone my whole life without seeing that." Hiccup said.

"Me t... Me... Achoo!" I sneezed again and cleaned my nose with a tissue. Hiccup and Astrid shared a look before turning at me. "What?"

"Just a question, you're not getting sick... Are you?" Hiccup asked and I shook my head.

"No, don't worry. The only thing I'm really allergic to are flowers. But just some kind of flowers." I explained. "And so far, I've been good. I think it must be the dust or maybe the cold, you know, since back home the weather wasn't this cold."

Hiccup narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously. "Okay."

I knew he wasn't buying it, because I wasn't buying it either. I was not feeling as cheerful as always, but I did not want to worry them about me when the dragons were in worst conditions. Once this was over, I would go with Gothi and ask her to give me anything so I would feel better.

After that, I returned home and Thora was already there, waiting for me. She was resting on her pool, with her head out of the water and in the wooden platform on the corner. I sat on the platform and caressed her head gently, as she purred and placed her head on my lap.

"Why you didn't tell me, girl?" I asked her. "I'm just worried for you. I don't want anything to happen to you."

 **"Just an... Allergy."** She replied weakly. **" I will... be better... soon."**

"Yes, you're gonna get better. I promise, and we are going to go flying again and– Achoo!" I sneezed, again. This caused her to lift her head and glare at my direction. "Damn." I cursed under my breath.

 **"Anna?"** Thora called me.

"Yea?"

 **"Are you..."**

"No, I'm not sick, if that's what you are wondering, dear." I interrupted her. "Get some sleep, okay? You'll see tomorrow is gonna be another day and you'll be better."

I really hoped she did get better, otherwise whoever did this was gonna be sorry.

* * *

On the morning I woke up with a bit of a headache. First I got up very fast and for five seconds my vision filled with black spots, I almost crashed with my bed. Then I was normal again and ignoring my pain I ran outside to see my dragon.

"Thora!" I called her. She got her head out of the pool and looked at me. "How you feeling?"

She tried to talk, but she just sneezed and I had to jump out of the way. Either way, I got all of my hair standing up and I looked at my dragon with worry. All the teens and I gathered at the center of the village, where Snotlout and the twins were standing besides Hookfang and Barf and Belch.

"We got rid of everything from Trader Johann, but out dragons still aren't getting better, they're getting worse!" Fishlegs cried.

"Le-let's make a list." Hiccup suggested. "Maybe there's somebody who bought something from Trader Johann but hasn't thrown it into the pit." He reasoned.

"Yeah... There must have been somebody who didn't want to give up what they bought." Astrid agreed.

Snotlout glared at us. "If I find out who was holding back, I am gonna be so mad!" He practically yelled, he was furious. "Hookfang was so sick, I was up all night scraping dragon barf off our walls!"

Tuffnut spoke up. "Yeah? Well, ours is dead!" Astrid and I gasped out loud and the others gaped, all of our eyes widening. "Just kidding." He said after some seconds of silence and we sighed in relief. "But, he's really not that fun anymore." He pouted.

"He just sits there. He won't blow anything up!" Ruff continued.

My headache returned of a sudden and I felt lightheaded for a second. I had to use for support a wall from one of the houses. "ACHOO!" I covered my mouth and let out a light cough. By the time I realized it, all eyes were upon me.

"I think you should rest." Hiccup told me and I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm good."

"No, you're not."

"You look pale and you have bags under your eyes. Did you sleep well last night?" Astrid asked.

I stood up straight and looked at them with the best face I could, but I was seeing double at the moment. "Yes. Probably it's just the nerves. I've been very worried for the dragons and sleep doesn't really help."

"Hiccup!" A booming voice interrupted us and Stoick got off from the back of his dragon. I've heard from others that he finally named him as Thornado, what got me slightly uneasy because I named Thora first. "Put this in the Book of Dragons! Never fly on a stomach full of under-cooked mutton. The Shivering Shores will never be the same." He walked to us, and noticed the looks in our faces. I tried on purpose to avoid his gaze, but I could feel it in the back of my neck.

Stoick walked to his son. "What is it, Hiccup? What's wrong?" He asked.

I saw from the corner of my eye Hiccup give me a look before replying. "It's the dragons, Dad. They're, uh..."

"They're sick. And getting worse." Astrid finished for him.

Stoick frowned. "Every dragon?"

Hiccup and I took Stoick to Hiccup's house, where Toothless was resting. Hiccup knelt and asked how was he doing, though he had an idea. I couldn't resist this time and I had to sit to stay awake.

 _ **"**_ **Good..."** Toothless reply was short and he said no more.

"Poor guy." Stoick said. "What do you think happened?" He asked his son.

"Ugh, I don't know!" Hiccup said like if they had asked him a hundredth times already. "Gothi says they're allergic to something new to the island, but we think we've gotten rid of everything."

Stoick placed a hand on his chin. "But, if the dragons aren't getting better..."

"...then something must still be here that's making them sick." Hiccup completed, eyeing me every once in a while to make sure I was okay. I just smiled weakly at him.

We heard a growl and a roar of a sudden, and we all ran outside the house, to discover Thornado was sneezing. Which meant no good. Neither for him nor me, because now everything was spinning.

"Sneezing. That's the first symptom." Hiccup said.

"He was fine until we got back!"

Before Hiccup could say anything, my knees gave in and I fell backwards on my butt. "Ow!" I said softly as the two of them rushed to help me up. "I'm _fiiine_." I said, with no intention on saying the "i" for too long.

"No. You are not fine. Stop saying you're okay, you can barely stand up." Hiccup glared at me and I sighed.

"What's wrong lass?"

"Just as the dragons, she's sick." Hiccup talked before I could open my mouth. "She was fine yesterday, but she began sneezing as well and now she seems pretty bad."

I loosened from their grip and turned to face him.

"Hiccup, please. Right now we need to think on the dragons, they're the ones who need attention, not me. Now come on, I think..."

I never finished the sentence. My vision filled with black and my eyes rolled to my back. I fell backwards and collapsed onto someone, but that was all I remembered.

When I was conscious again, I found three pairs of eyes looking at me. I blinked several times until I saw Stoick, Hiccup and Ahti staring at me with wide eyes and worried expressions. Ahti and Hiccup were each one knelt on my sides and Stoick was upside down from my point of view.

"What happened...?" I asked a bit disoriented. I tried to stand up but I felt light headed again and I almost fell again if it wasn't for Hiccup who put an arm around my waist.

"You have a fever." Hiccup said as he placed a hand on my forehead. I gave a light sneeze.

"I never saw you like this since that time Dallas' gang brought you those flowers." Ahti noticed and then he leaned closer to me. "Have you been close to flowers lately?"

"Not that I remember." I said, hugging myself.

"You need to go home and rest." Hiccup said gently. "Don't worry, we'll make sure to find a cure. Right now, go home. Please."

I nodded. Ahti placed an arm around me and we walked together all the way to my house while Hiccup and Stoick went to find answers.

I sighed as we reached my house. This was what I gained for being an idiot. I should have said anything, I knew I had to say something, but do I ever listen to myself? No.

We went upstairs and I sat on my bed, pulling the covers over me. Ahti sat besides me at the edge of the bed.

"Why didn't you tell me you were feeling bad?" He asked me and I pressed my mouth into a thin line. "You fainted for five minutes. When were you going to tell me?" He raised his voice and I looked at him. "What if you were having an allergic reaction? What if you were poisoned or you were hurt? What would I do, then, if I had no idea? How were you planning I would help you?!"

I just pulled the covers closer to me and looked to my hands. Then I realized I was looking really sick, I was paler than usual and I was having another headache. Ahti sighed and took my hand.

"What would I do if I loose you?"

He rubbed his thumb against the back of my hand, not letting it go. I squeezed it weakly before I sneezed again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to be another problem you guys had to deal with." Ahti shook his head and held my hand tighter.

"You are not a problem. You're my best friend, and I care for you just as much as you care for me. Don't ever think like you are a problem again." He placed a hand on my shoulder and lifted my chin with the other so our eyes locked. We shared a smile.

"How is Oak?" I asked of a sudden.

"Just as the others. I still don't get what happened or why are they this sick." He said, shaking his head. "I'll go back with Hiccup and the others. Maybe they discovered something that might help. I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Okay."

"Don't leave that bed until I came back." He said firmly and pointed at me as I rolled my eyes.

"Sometimes you act like an older brother, you know. And supposedly I'm the older one here. My birthday is just a few weeks away."

He chuckled and stood up. "Two months don't make any difference at all."

"I'm a lot smarter than you." I pointed out.

"And that's why I like you so much." He grinned. "Try to get some shut eye."

"You're not my mother."

"No..." He shook his head and then deepened his voice. "I'm your father."

I gasped out loud and looked to the sky as I raised my arms in a dramatic way. "NOOOOOO!" I exclaimed.

We laughed and he left me alone in the room. I lay my head on the pillow and began drawing imaginary figures with my finger in the air. I looked to my window, and I swear I saw a few snowflakes. Suddenly they flew right into the room, even if the window was closed! This seemed familiar to me... The wind carried them gently over my head and they circled gratefully each other before one of them rested on my nose.

* * *

I rubbed my eyes as I woke up. When did I fall asleep? I wasn't that tired to have a nap. Well, that's what I thought.

The door of my room opened and Ahti entered with a bowl of hot soup on his hands. From here, I could smell the delicious scent and my mouth watered. I sat again on the bed and bent my legs.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey." I replied, cleaning my nose.

"How are you feeling?" He asked me as he sat on the edge of the bed, mixing the contents of the soup with a spoon to make it cool down a bit so it wouldn't burn my tongue.

I felt I was having a mayor headache than last time. This time it really hurt. I held my head for a moment with my hand and tried to rub it off, all I had to do was concentrate on eating and then I would feel better.

"Good... I think." I admitted with a slow shrug. Now I was feeling drowsy and I leaned my back on the pillow.

He placed a hand on my forehead and his eyes widened. "Your fever increased. That's no good." He said worried as he walked out of the room and moments later returned with a cloth and a bowl with water. He sank the cloth on the bowl and wrung it out, then placed it on my forehead and I let out a sigh of relief when I felt the fresh water run down my face. It was a very pleasant feeling.

"Thanks." I mumbled.

He sighed heavily and said something I almost didn't catch. "I'm gonna kill him."

With the bit of strength I still had, I raised an eyebrow. "...what?" I asked.

He looked at me seriously. "You wouldn't be like this if it wasn't for Mildew." My eyes widened at the name and I almost jumped of the bed, but at this my head spun and Ahti laid me down on the bed again. "Easy there, you don't wanna get any sicker."

"How do you know he did all of this?" I asked.

"He planted those flowers you are allergic to. Remember the Blue Oleander?" I gasped and placed a hand over my mouth in shock. Last time I was near one of those, my eyes became red and I couldn't breathe. I was full of red spots from head to toe and I was very close to dying. "Well, those are poisonous to reptiles as well, which means they are poisonous to dragons. Right now Fishlegs went to get his book from the pile of things we got rid off to tell us anything about a cure. I'll be gone for a couple of hours to see if there's anything I can do to help."

"What am I supposed to do in the meantime? I can't stay in this bed forever." I protested.

"You won't, I promise. But right now you'll rest, until I come back." He leaned over me and gave me a peck on the cheek. My cheeks turned pink. "Don't worry about me, okay?"

I didn't like very much the idea, but really I didn't have much of a choice. "Okay. Just wake me up when you're back."

"Alright." He stood up and leaved me alone again. I tried to sleep again and I must have actually slept, because Ahti woke me up when he came back, just he wasn't alone. By the time I realized it, I was breathing by the mouth because I couldn't breath by the nose, I assumed it should be full of mucus. Eww.

Ahti opened the door and let Hiccup pass, who was holding a bottle in his hands. The moment he saw me on bed his eyes widened like two baseballs.

"Don't you like... my hairstyle?" I managed to joke with a weak smile, as I pulled myself to sit on the bed and Ahti knelt besides.

"Oh Gods Anna, are you okay?" Hiccup asked as he walked to me and I nodded, smiling like if I was being drugged, and by the look on his face, I was giving him chills.

" _Sssure_... Achoo!"

Ahti poured the contents of the bottle on a cup and gave it to me. Who knows what was that. "Here you go. Drink this at once."

I couldn't even extend my arm to grab it so he had to place a hand on my head while with the other he let me drink from the cup. I drank it slowly and I felt the liquid go down my throat. I shuddered when I finished, but my headache stopped quickly. In fact, I felt how I got back my strength and I could breathe properly now. I gave a gasp letting in a huge amount of oxygen and then exhaled in relief. I flexed my muscles to verify I was fine before standing up. Hiccup and Ahti rushed to my sides in case I fainted, but none of that happened. I could walk now. The color returned to my body and a huge grin spread on my lips.

"How are you feeling?" Ahti asked. I jumped in my place up and down like a little girl and smiled widely to the world, thought we were the only ones on the room. I gave both of them a hug and they hugged me back. I buried my face in their shoulders.

"Thank you, guys." I whispered.

We broke the hug and we hear a noise from out side. We ran back out, and I saw Thora running exited in circles all over the place, playing with Oak. We ran to our dragons and they seemed better too.

 **"Anna!"** Thora exclaimed as she tackled me to the ground and licked me to death.

"Hey girl!" I said between laughs as I scratched her scales and when she got off me I mounted on her back. In a second, she bolted to the sky and spun around, then she plummeted towards the ground and in the last second she pulled up. We zigzagged the clouds and the smile never left my lips. We were good now.

I couldn't help but close my eyes and feel how I haven't in two days. I missed this feeling of freedom. And when I thought it couldn't be better, Hiccup, Toothless, Ahti and Oak joined us. The dragons greeted each other and I waved to my friends, who waved back to me.

And for a moment I swore I saw some snowflakes fly around and the temperature around us dropped at least five degrees.

* * *

 **Hello everybody!** **I'm back!**

 **Really sorry for slow updates, I usually try to update this fic ASAP, but High School is not as easy as I thought. But I'm going through! Thank you for 32 reviews, 22 followers, 16 favorites and 1,380 views! I never thought I would've make it this far, you guys are awesome. I owe so much to you! Free cookies to all readers! (::)**

 **Please, if you haven't followed or fav this story, do it so you would know when there's an update. Talking about updates, I'm planning something special for Halloween and Holidays. Suggestions anyone? I'm open.**

 **As always, reviews are very well appreciated. And special thanks to grapejuice101, who always leaves a review in all the chapters. Free cookie to you! (::)**

 **I think that's all folks, for now. Thanks again! Love you so much! UNT...**

 **Scout017, out.**


	10. Heather Report, Part 1

Thora and I flew around Berk, doing record time. We were about to reach the goal line. When we crossed it, we landed on the Academy and a big smile spread on my lips.

"So?" I asked, panting. Flying around at an incredible speed would certainly tire me out. "How'd we do?"

"New record." Fishlegs said exited. "You've really progressed. Thora is the third place of the fastest dragons."

"Third?" I asked and he nodded. I think he should record times again, we were almost going at super sonic speed!

"Toothless is in second place." He added and I frowned. Okay, I admit Toothless was even faster than Thora, but how could he be second? Wasn't it supposed he was the fastest dragon of them all?

"How is that possible?" Hiccup asked as confused as I was as he petted his dragon. "How can Toothless be getting slower?"

Fishlegs shook his head. "He's not. Stormfly's getting faster."

We looked surprised at Stormfly and Astrid, who had a big satisfactory smile. I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Anything you'd like to share, Astrid?" Hiccup asked.

Astrid smirked. "Let's just say I'm experimenting with what she eats. And apparently, it's working."

Stormfly erupted and a stream of fire escaped from her mouth.

While we discussed which were the fastest dragons, we were interrupted when Snotlout and Hookfang arrived and Snotlout seemed more happy than usual.

"Woo-hoo!" He exclaimed in exitement and crossed his arms. "You guys won't believe what I just found."

"A severed head?" Tuffnut guessed.

"Our cousin Lars?" Ruffnut continued.

"Our cousin Lars' severed head?"

"Lars died?" Fishlegs asked with wide eyes.

"Who said that?!" Tuffnut exclaimed.

"Um, excuse me?" Snotlout called our attention again. "Do you guys want to see this, or not?"

"See what, exactly?" Ahti asked raising an eyebrow.

He didn't got answer, Snotlout and Hookfang just took flight and we supposed he wanted that we follow him. We rode our dragons and we followed him until we arrived to a beach, one I never visited before. But here, there was a wrecked boat. We all got close to it, questions rising in the air.

"Just remember, I saw it first, so it's mine." Snotlout said before he showed us what he found. It wasn't what, it was who. It was a girl. "Remember, I get to keep her!"

"Are you crazy! It's a person!" I practically yelled on his ear.

"Right?! How lucky is that?"

I just elbowed him for being an ignorant, and hard. He whimpered in pain and even moved aside, giving Ahti more space to see. I smiled victorious.

"Hey." Hiccup crawled his way to the girl and shook her gently, waking her up. She pushed herself up and she looked disoriented, until seeing us. She got scared and backed away as much as she could. "It's okay, we're friends." Hiccup said with a warm smile.

The girl coughed hardly and looked at us. "Do you have any water?" She asked and gasped when Tuffnut, Fishlegs and Snotlout tried to offer her water at the same time. Ahti just pushed them away from her and offered her his bottle.

"Here. Drink it all." He smiled with generosity.

She thanked him and drank as much as she could, then gave it back. "Where am I?"

"This is Berk." Hiccup answered and suddenly Toothless appeared, scaring her. Hiccup pushed him back and allowed her to come out. "Uh, do-don't be afraid! He won't hurt you. Come out, it's okay."

She leaned her head out and watched how Toothless followed Hiccup's commands, sitting on his place calmly.

"How did you do that?" She asked in awe, standing up.

"That?" Snotlout asked. "That's nothing. Watch this. Hookfang, get your butt over here!" He yelled. Hookfang glared at him, before flying off. Everyone just stared at him. He laughed awkwardly. "He'll be back. Jokester." He said under his breath."Oh! And just so you know, I'm the one who rescued you." He said trying to flirt out with her.

Thankfully, Hiccup walked to them in time. "And I would be Hiccup." He introduced himself.

"Heather." She answered. She had black hair in a side braid that lay down her left shoulder, and green eyes. She wore some green and brown clothes, and she had a horn on her belt with some symbol in it, but I couldn't see it right.

"So, Heather..." Astrid began. "What happened to you?"

"My family and I were on our way home to our island when our boat was attacked by pirates." She explained.

"I wanna be a pirate!" Tuffnut interrupted of a sudden. We all turned to him. "Or a fish cleaner." He continued with a hand on his chin. "I'm still on the fence."

Astrid cleared her throat and we turned back towards Heather.

"They attacked our boat and took us back to our island, laying siege to it." She said as she walked to stare at the ocean. "I was able to escape, but my mother and father, they weren't so lucky." She looked down.

"Stupid pirates!" Tuffnut hissed. "I'm definitely gonna be a fish cleaner!" He stated and I rolled my eyes.

Hiccup walked towards Heather and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, everything's gonna be okay. My dad's the Chief. We'll figure something out." He assured as they walked to Toothless. I almost laughed at Snotlout's expression.

We all walked back to our dragons, and I noticed Astrid return to the wrecked ship checking for something and then walk towards Stormfly. For some reason, the alarms on my head went off and I got a bad feeling. I turned to Ahti and made a hand gesture to stay when everybody took flight. He nodded and we waited for everybody to go, except for Snotlout, who didn't have a way to go back.

"I knew I could count on you, guys." He said with a smile as he walked to my dragon, but I stopped him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, there you mutton head." I got off my dragon. "Where do you think you're going? You have two legs, start walking!" I pointed the way back and he glared at me before walking away. Once he was far enough, I talked to Ahti. "Who is she?" I asked him.

"Heather." He simply replied, then he went quiet.

"I know that already. Stop messing with me!" I yelled.

"Whoa! Okay, calm down! I was just joking!" He raised his hands defensively. "Man, did you woke up on the other side of the bed?"

"Hey! Watch it!" I snapped. "Would you just tell me who she is!"

"Fine, I'll tell ya. I don't know much about her, but what she said about her parents..." He seemed to consider something. He looked around and checked nobody else was listening.

"What? What is it?"

He looked at me. "It's true."

"They were kidnapped by pirates?" I repeated. "How? I mean, is there a way to rescue them? Maybe we can help her to get them back..."

"We can't." He said.

"Why not?"

He just looked down and closed his eyes. It took me a while to let it sink in and I placed a hand on my mouth. "Oh my God." I said in a voice that was barely above a whisper. "What are we gonna tell her?"

"Nothing, we'll just let everything happen until it's time. Then we'll tell her. Right now, let's just welcome her and threat her like she's one of us. That way we'll gain her trust." He said. I just nodded. He was the one that knew about the episodes, so whatever he thought it was right, I would do it. We got back to the village, but before we leaved Thora grabbed Snotlout from his arms and we flew back.

By the time we returned, it was already noon. From what I've heard, Heather would stay in Hiccup's house in the meantime. Poor of her, I couldn't imagine her expression when we tell her about the loss of her parents. Ahti had told me to act natural and to not say a word to anybody, so that's what I was going to do.

However, there's was this feeling in my chest that was telling me something was wrong, but I let it slide. Probably were just the nerves, I was tired and it was bedtime. Whatever happened, we would figure it out in the morning.

* * *

I woke up and instead of getting ready to go and see my friends, I stayed in bed for a while, staring at the roof of my room. All this Heather situation got me thinking about how alike we were she and I. We were just teens, and we both have lost somebody special for us. Although she lost both of her parents, I felt like I did too. My mother was so strict with me since father disappeared. Once she was nice to me, now, she was just as cold as the ice.

I never knew why my father leaved or if he really died, but mother never wanted to talk about it and Dallas still couldn't get over it. Lucy didn't even had a chance to know him. And I, I was starting to forget him. As the time passed, the memories of him started to vanish from my mind, and there wasn't a single photo at my home for me to know how he looked like. However, mother says I look a lot like him, but I wonder if she meant physically or mentally.

Almost at mid-day, I got out of bed and walked towards the Academy. To my surprise, Hiccup and Heather were nowhere to be seen. Fishlegs was scratching Meatlug behind her ear with a branch, the twins and their dragon were sleeping, Ahti was adjusting his saddle to Oak, Astrid glared at the sky besides her dragon, and Hookfang wouldn't calm down.

"Hey, where's Hiccup?" I asked. Astrid didn't even look at me, but she pointed up to the sky.

"Giving a private lesson." She replied dryly. I followed her gaze and heard Heather's voice. It came from Toothless, and wherever Toothless was, Hiccup was too.

Then I got that feeling again bothering me. Everything was fine seconds ago, but when I got to see Hiccup and Heather together, I just got a bad feeling.

~ _If I didn't know you, I would say you we're jealous_ ~ Sabrina smirked.

What?! That's ridiculous! I'm anything but jealous!

"I didn't know he gave private lessons!" Fishlegs said, but he seemed to like the idea. Even I would like it, if it didn't involve Hiccup AND Heather. "Can anybody get in on that?"

"Yeah. I know she's knew in the island and she shipwrecked and all that, but I think that's too much." I said placing my hands on my hips.

"Uh-oh! Looks like there's another hen in the rooster house." Ruffnut smirked.

"Uh-oh. Yeah. Another rooster in the hen house." When he realized what he said he sat up. "Wait, what?"

"Nothing." I said. "She thinks I'm jealous, which is completely ridiculous."

"Oh, right, right. Wait. Of who? Me? Wait, am I the rooster, or the hen?" Tuffnut asked to himself.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, walking to my dragon. "Trust me. The last thing I am is jealous." I was being honest when I said that. If Ahti hadn't told me about her parents, then I would probably be jealous, but just a bit. Now, I only felt bad for her, though I had to admit seeing her with Hiccup... They just didn't go along.

"Top of the morning, class!" Hiccup greeted us cheerfully, hoping off Toothless' back. Heather got off too and she gave a turn staring in wonder at the arena."How's everyone doing today?"

"Oh! Nice of you to show up." Astrid said with sarcasm. I smiled in the inside. _Thank you for pointing that out, Astrid._

Hiccup frowned, and of a sudden he realized what she meant. " _Ooohh_ , we were supposed to meet up. I'm so sorry." He facepalmed himself.

The teens walked to us and Snotlout said something to the twins I didn't catch. " _Ooohh_ , Annabelle's jealous of the pretty one, right?" Tuffnut asked of a sudden and I snapped my neck at him, glaring at him to shut up. Not because he was right, but he didn't had to say it out loud. "Why talk about hens and roosters?"

Astrid gave a step forwards. "So, Heather? Sleep well?" She asked.

"Very well. Thank you, Astrid." Heather replied with a small smile, while Astrid just glared at her. I could feel the tension rising in the air. Heather looked down for a moment as if she knew why she got that look, and then changed the subject.

"So... This is it? Your Dragon Training Academy." She said.

"No. _Our_ Dragon Training Academy. Remember, I called you the pretty one." Tufnutt chuckled, and his sister just looked at him awkwardly.

"We've been training the dragons to become part of our everyday lives." Hiccup explained.

"And all of it goes right here." Fishlegs showed up with the Book of Dragons on his hands. My eyes went wide. How did he got it? I was working on it updating the pages three days ago and I left the book in my house. Did he steal it?

Heather suddenly got interested in it, like, very interested to the point she was almost jumping from excitement. "Really? Everything?" She asked.

"Mmm, yep. I'm kind of the Log Keeper. Log Master, really." Fishlegs said, arranging his helmet. I closed my eyes. If I didn't know them, I would say he, Snotlout and Tuffnut were all trying to flirt with her, and it was getting annoying.

"Can I see it?" Heather asked, but out of the blue Astrid snatched the book from Fishlegs' hands and walked with Hiccup far away from them. "I'll take that, thank you. Excuse us."

Okay. Now I was one hundred percent sure I wasn't the jealous one here, Astrid was. But, why she glared at Heather when she asked her how did she sleep? And Heather also acted like she was trying to avoid it. Maybe I should talk to her, just in case something was bothering her.

Ahti and I walked to her and all the teens wanted to show her their own dragons.

"I would like to see them, thank you." She answered politely. "But how am I gonna be in different places at the same time?"

"Maybe you could take turns." Ahti suggested. "I mean, maybe you could go first with Fishlegs and let him show you his dragon, then with the twins and then with Snotlout."

"What about you?" Heather's question caught Ahti off-guard.

"M-me?" He stuttered.

"Of course. I see you own a dragon too, I would love to know about him." Heather smiled, and... Was that a tint of pink on her cheeks? I turned to my sleeked haired, blue-eyed friend and noticed he also was turning pink. Oooh... I see what's going on here...

Hiccup returned with the Book of Dragons under his arm. "Sorry about that, here you go."

Before Heather could grab it, I spoke up. "Actually, Hiccup, I still need to finish with the updates. You know, there's a lot of work to do." I reminded and he retracted the book.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I forgot." He gave me the book and I smiled. Heather frowned for a moment, but then regained her charming smile.

"So, Fishegs, when can we start?"

"Right now!" He said and they walked out of the Academy to the village. Heather gave a last look to Ahti and waved him before leaving. Ahti smiled like an idiot and waved back. He hadn't even noticed I'd been watching the whole time. I cleared my throat and he turned at me. "What?"

"Heather and Ahti, sitting in a tree-" Before I could go on, he covered my mouth with his hand. I just laughed under his hand, and he was bright red.

"I should go... I have things to do... and well... see you later!" He excused himself, running off as fast as he could.

I just shook my head with a smile.

 _Later..._

I returned to my house and continued with the updates in the book. There were hundreds of things to edit, and I was considering to do another book. The first five pages were already edited and re-written by Hiccup, so I continued since there. I added some details here and there, made some drawings, erased and rewrote information, etc. It took me hours to get to the middle of the book.

I didn't noticed when I fell asleep. I blinked a few times and yawned, stretching myself. Maybe I should get some rest and go to sleep, but before I did, I had to return the book to Hiccup. I stood up and stretched a hand to reach out for it, but I grabbed nothing. The book wasn't there. I knelt down, but the book didn't fall of the table. I searched behind my furniture and I even wondered if I left it in my room. No, I didn't. I did found a book, but it was the one Trader Johann gave me.

I started to panic. Where the heck did that book go? Where did I leave it? Okay, I had to retrace my steps. I was at the Academy, Hiccup gave me the book, I arrived here and started to work and then... Hold on... Before Hiccup gave me the book, he was gonna give it to... Heather.

Oh no... she probably sneaked in my house and got it while I was asleep. But, what was the purpose? She could just had asked me for it.

I ran out of my house and the first thing I did was knock at the door of Ahti's home. The door was open, and there was no sign of him. Of course! He likes her, he must be with her!

I ran to Hiccup's house, but in the way I found said girl talking to Astrid in her house. I hided behind another house, eavesdropping their talk.

"Don't give me your innocent routine." Astrid snapped. Wow, did I miss something here?

"I wouldn't think of it. You're way too smart for that, Astrid." Heather replied and my eyes went huge. She... was acting? All this time, she had been lying to us? How dared she, if we just gave her our support and our friendship and... it was all for naught! She was just playing, and we fell right on her game! I felt a sudden rage burn inside my stomach, and she was gonna pay for it.

"I think your dragon likes me." Heather said. "See you later, Stormfly." She said before leaving Astrid alone. I covered my mouth to stiffen a gasp. This couldn't be true.

"Really, where's the loyalty?" Astrid asked Stormfly.

 **"She gave me chicken. I like chicken. I like her."**

I growled and ran off to the woods to clear up my mind, I just couldn't believe what I heard. I wanted to scream for being an idiot. Since when she had been lying? Probably since we knew her! Which would meant her parents could be alive! Wait, Ahti said they were dead...

No, he didn't. He never said it, he just went quiet and told me to let things happen, I was the one who assumed he meant they died. Oh my God, I was so stupid! I should have listened to myself! Why do the good guys always fall in the bad guys' games?

I punched a trunk of a tree and I jumped when it rumbled as I punched it. I stared in shock at my fist, and wondered how mad would I be to punch that hard, until I heard the same loud noise again and I realized it wasn't me. I walked towards the sound, and heard a familiar voice too.

"Astrid?" I called and she looked surprised to see me, she held her axe in her hand. "What are you doing here?"

She lowered her axe. "I could ask you the same thing. Do you still have the Book of Dragons with you?"

I furrowed my eyebrows at her question. "No, it disappeared. I assumed some of you guys would have it, though my first suspicion was Heather." I admitted.

"Ugh! I think it's time for you to know the truth." Before she could say anything else, we heard a twig broke. We both froze. I turned around and saw Heather running through the woods. Instantly, we followed her until we reached the same beach we found her, except that the wrecked boat was gone. Now that I remembered, we never returned here to check if she didn't come alone.

We hided under a tree and watched she just sat on the sand, looking at the distance. Astrid and I shared a look.

"This was stupid." I said, already leaving but she called my attention.

"Wait..." She said and I returned to my place. We saw a figure in the distance approach the shore, and I recognized the crest on the sail, along the people that were in the ship. "That's an Outcast boat!"

And suddenly, three men got out of the boat. "Savage..." I whispered. What in the name of Thor were they doing here? "What's really going on?" I said out loud.

"I don't know, I can't hear anything."

We leaned over the tree a little more trying to hear the conversation, but it didn't work. We jumped when we heard a sound behind us. We turned around, and I managed to hear the sound of footsteps running away. My eyes went wide.

"Somebody saw us." I gasped. "We have to go! If somebody else saw us, no doubt he'll think we were working with the Outcasts and he'll make his way to Stoick!"

"We have to stop him!" She said as we chased him back to the village.

"This way!" I yelled as I heard his footsteps becoming closer. I stopped of a sudden when a pack of boars ran past us and then we regained the chasing, but the footsteps sounded further. "He's getting away!"

"He won't!" Astrid threw her axe at him, but missed my some inches. What we did heard was a yelp and Astrid ran to get her axe back. I saw her pausing to catch her breath and she collected something, before catching up with me.

We ran with all our strength and suddenly the trees ended, as we arrived to the village. We had advantage since it seemed like we arrived first, so we used it and ran to Hiccup's house. Astrid kicked the door and then kicked Hiccup to wake him up. I winced when he yelped in pain, but there was no time for that. The Outcasts could attack in any minute!

"OW! WHAT-!" Hiccup snapped open his eyes and sat up, glaring at us. "Why would you do that? What are you doing?" He asked, the last question more to me than to Astrid.

"Saving our butts! We just saw Heather talking to Savage! She is working with the Outcasts!" Astrid explained. Hiccup just looked at her confused.

"What? She's upstairs, sleeping."

"Oh yeah? Let's go find out." She challenged as we three made our way upstairs, but Astrid and I gaped in shock when we found Heather was indeed sleeping in Hiccup's room, and Ahti was here too! He was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall with one of his knees bent and he leaned his arm on it. Actually, they just woke up at the sound of our footsteps.

"Hey guys." Heather yawned. "Is everything okay?" She asked, and now I felt embarrassed. Ahti rubbed his eyes and gave a yawn.

"Yes, Heather. Everything's fine." I said in a low voice. "Sorry for waking you up." I apologized and Astrid gave me an 'are you kidding me' look. I avoided her gaze and gestured them to leave. "Come on, Astrid." I said walking downstairs and Hiccup got us out of his house to talk to us.

"What was all that about? Are you girls okay?" Hiccup asked, looking concerned towards us.

"No, we're not." Astrid yelled as she looked at me. "Why you did that?! Tell him what we just saw!" She exclaimed, startling me a bit for yelling so loud. She was a lot like my mother when she got mad.

"What are you talking about?" Hiccup said. I sighed and shook my head.

"Nothing, Hiccup." But Astrid wouldn't let it go, so she talked for me.

"Heather was talking to Savage! We both saw it with our eyes!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes, tired of this situation. "Astrid, don't you think it's possible you saw something else? I mean, it's pretty dark out there." He reasoned.

"I know what I saw. The girl is not who you think she is!"

"So who is she, then?" He crossed his arms, expecting an answer.

"I-I don't know... nobody knows!" She said, looking away. My mind clicked in that moment. There was one person who did know. Ahti. "She just mysteriously washed up on our beach. You don't find that strange?" She waved her arms for emphasis.

Hiccup shook his head. "No, because her ship was taken over by pirates. Her whole island is under siege."

"The only thing 'under siege' is your brain! You're not thinking clearly!" She snapped.

"Oh, really? Me? You should listen to yourself, Astrid! Since Heather arrived you've been acting strange and very rude towards her. " Hiccup shot back. "Are you jealous of her? Are you both jealous?" He asked looking at me too and I gasped. Now he went too far. I had heard it already and I just let it slide, but hearing it from Hiccup? That was a whole different thing.

"I'm. Not. _Jealous_!" I finally exploded. "Can you explain me what the hell was Ahti doing upstairs?!" I snapped. Now I was furious.

"Heather was having nightmares, he just came to watch over her."

 _Riiight_. And I talked to ghosts. Ahti knew something and he wasn't telling me. I wondered what was it and if it was so important for him not to tell me, his best friend. I felt like the Clone Wars season 5 finale was happening all over again. Ahsoka trusted Barriss, and she betrayed her. I was trusting in Ahti, and he was betraying me. At what cost?

"Hiccup, the Outcasts could be attacking any minute!" Astrid cried returning me to the real world.

"Astrid, if there's one thing I know, it's this: Heather... is _not_ working for the Outcasts." He said at last. Then he went back inside and closed the door.

"What did you get when you threw the axe at the one who spied us?" I asked her, and she looked at me puzzled.

"Why do you care? You don't even told Hiccup the truth!"

"Because I knew he wouldn't believe us." I explained. "You know, I have experience in this stuff, even if you got all the proves, he won't believe you because he kinda likes her. It's like a spell. You can't trust in anybody, but in yourself. Now, what do you have?"

"How do I know I can trust you?" She narrowed her eyes at me.

I gave her a funny look. "Come on, Astrid! I'm not either blind or deaf! Hand it over." I extend my hand and got from her pocket something super small, capable of hiding from view in her fist. She gave it to me and I raised an eyebrow when I saw what it was.

"Is this... hair?" I asked.

"I reacted the same way." She said.

It was a lock of sleek hair, and it was short. It could be from anybody, I knew a lot of people with dark hair. It could be from Heather herself, and that would explain why we found her sleeping. Maybe she did arrive first.

"Now what?" Astrid interrupted my train of thought.

"Now we have to get clues." I said. "We have to research for the owner of this lock and watch over Heather to make sure she doesn't give anymore information to the Outcasts."

"Right." She gave a yawn and I yawned too. "Let's start tomorrow, first hour in the morning, okay?"

I nodded and she walked away. I gave a last look to Hiccup's house and sighed, before walking to my home. This was a mess, and I didn't want things to turn out worst than they already were.

* * *

The next morning when I got out of home, I noticed Oak wasn't sleeping outside Ahti's house, what was weird. I went to knock at his door, but it was open like I left it yesterday. Oh, right, he stayed with Heather.

I went to Hiccup's house and knocked the door. Stoick greeted me with a smile.

"Mornin' lass, what can I do for you?"

Before I could say anything, Hiccup walked to Stoick. "Hey Dad, have you seen the book?" He asked, alarming me.

"You'll have to be more specific, son." Stoick said, but I knew which book he was referring to. Either way, Hiccup answered his question.

"The Book of Dragons. I can't find it anywhere."

"Did you look in your room? Or did you asked Ahti or Heather?" I said.

"Tha-that's another thing." He said with a frown. "None of them were in the room when I went upstairs. Maybe they woke up earlier."

That was all I needed to hear. Everything made sense now. The Book of Dragons, Heather and Ahti gone? All at once? Not a coincidence. Heather was indeed working with the Outcasts, she made everything up. Last night when we found her talking to the Outcasts, somebody sneaked up on Astrid and me, and said person had sleek hair.

There was only one person who would help Heather. Ahti. He lied to me since the beginning, he knew she was gonna betray us and he lied to protect her because he was in love with her. He lied about her parents, he lied about not knowing her, he borrowed the Book of Dragons from me and he helped her get away from Berk when everybody else was sleeping.

I stomped the floor in frustration. "He's gone!" I yelled, catching Hiccup's attention.

"Heather?" He guessed and I shook my head.

"No, Ahti! He helped little Miss Innocent get out of here with the Book of Dragons!"

That was all it took Hiccup to understand Heather lied all this time.

 _Moments later..._

"Oh, this is bad. This is bad, this is bad, this is bad!" Fishlegs cried. We were all gathered in the arena and I had already explained everything to the gang. "This is catastrophic! I-If Alvin gets that book-"

"He won't." Hiccup said, and he was having a hard time to believe what happened. "Heather... I can't believe it."

"Me either." Snotlout said. "How could she walk away from _this_?"

Hiccup ignored him, like everybody else did. "How could I not have seen it?" He wondered and that's what I was questioning too. When was he gonna learn to listen?

"Because your brain was 'under siege'." Tuffnut said.

"Do you even know what that means?" Hiccup asked him annoyed, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes... no... it's not good, right?" Tuffnut asked confused. I shook my head.

"No, it's not good." Astrid said as she mounted her dragon and I got on mine. She and I shared a little smile, because we trusted each other and all this time we were right.

Hiccup walked towards us and I could see in his eyes he was really ashamed, but a simple "I'm sorry" wasn't going to fix things right.

"Girls, look..."

"Save it!" Astrid barked raising a hand. "You can apologize to both of us when we stop them from getting away." She stated. Hiccup looked at me sadly and I just avoided his stare.

"Alright, let's go." He said as he mounted Toothless and we took off. "We can't let them reach Outcast Island!"

"They won't." I muttered, and I had a hard time believing Ahti could do this to me.

It felt like hours until we finally saw a figure on the sky. At first it was a dot, but then it became a figure and then I recognized the Timberjack and the two riders on it's back.

"There! I see them!" Fishlegs exclaimed.

"Come on Stormfly!" Astrid yelled as she flew past us and quickly caught up with Oak, followed by Toothless and Thora. Astrid moved above them, while Hiccup and I flew around, to make sure they wouldn't try to escape. Suddenly, Heather opened her satchel and from it she got a chicken leg, then she gave it to Oak, what increased his speed.

"I-is that... chicken?" Hiccup asked, as he turned to Astrid. "Is that what you've been..."

"Really? You wanna talk about that _now_?" She yelled back. "Steady, steady..." She extended her arms and jumped, landing perfectly on Oak's saddle. Thankfully, Oak was almost as big in size as Torch's mother, so she could easily stand up on him. "Going somewhere?" She asked, as Heather and Ahti turned in surprise when they saw her.

Heather just turned back and pushed Astrid off with her back, and she would have fallen off if she didn't grip Oak's tail.

"Astrid!" Ahti yelled in alarm. "Oak, tail flip!" He ordered. His dragon did as told, and soon, Astrid was on Oak's back.

I had to admit that caught me off guard. Although he was helping Heather to escape, he had a good heart and didn't let Astrid fall to the water. But still, that didn't mean we were not gonna stop them.

"This is gonna be awesome!" Tuffnut sang.

"Uh, Hiccup? I really hate to be the voice of doom, but we just crossed into Outcast waters." Fishlegs pointed downwards, and then we noticed we were flying above the sea stacks from Outcast Island.

"Astrid, Heather! Both of you stop!" Ahti yelled. "This will just make it worst!"

"Oh, really?! You're the one to talk!" Astrid shot back as she and Heather fought.

"Astrid! You got to trust me! We need to get to Outcast Island!"

"Why would we go there in Odin's name?!" She said as she managed to grab Heather from the wrists and pin her down on Oak's back, while the latter struggled to get free from her grasp.

"Because-"

"Watch out!" Hiccup yelled.

Out of nowhere, flaming boulders were fired at us. We started to dodge them as we approached Outcast Island.

"Guys!" I yelled.

"Don't you _ever,_ betray us, _again_!" Astrid yelled, ready to throw a punch.

That was all it took Heather to get her strength and push Astrid off. She lost her balance and soon she was falling towards the water along the book.

"ASTRID!" Hiccup cried.

"Thora, fetch!" I yelled and we flew towards her. Fortunately, we saved her just in time and she landed safely behind me. Once I was sure she was alright, I looked around for the book, watching as Ahti, Heather and Hiccup plummeted towards it.

"Come on, come on, come on, come on, bud!" Hiccup encouraged. But they got way too close to the island and a boulder flew past him, burning him in the arm. Toothless sensed the pain in his rider and they got no choice but to return. In the air, Heather managed to grab the book with her arms, and they flew towards Outcast Island, as the Outcasts themselves cheered for their victory.

Hiccup soon joined us and we all looked sadly at him. Fishlegs flew besides Hiccup, hoping he somehow got the book. "Please tell me you got it."

Hiccup just looked down, placing a hand on his wound. "I was too late. They flew away with the Book of Dragons."

* * *

 **Wow. That was intense, don't you think?**

 **Hello everyone! How are you?**

 **I hope you like the chapter. Remember to follow and fav if you haven't done it, and reviews and suggestions are gladly appreciated. I really don't have anything else to say... Except that I love you all, my dear readers!**

 **UNT...**

 **Scout017, out.**


	11. Heather Report, Part 2

A boulder was thrown at Fishlegs and Meatlug, and just when it was about to hit them, Meatlug turned around and swallowed it whole.

"That was a little too close Snotlout!" Fishlegs pointed out.

"Quit whining, Fishlegs!" Snotlout answered. Fishlegs patted Meatlug on her side and she threw lava at the small version of the catapult we built for training, missing Snotlout for a few inches. "Hey! Cut it out!"

"Quit whining, Snotlout!" Fishlegs mocked. Toothless walked over them with Hiccup on his back.

"Good job guys," Hiccup said. "But remember, the Outcasts are not gonna be coming one at a time."

"Don't remind me, I'm under enough stress." Fishlegs replied. Either Hiccup ignored him or he didn't hear what he said.

"Remember, we're only gonna have one shot at getting the Book of Dragons back."

"Um, did I not make myself clear about the stress...?" He said before Meatlug and him flew away.

Then, Barf spread gas in a straight line and Belch ignited it. Snotlout had to jump out of the way to not catch in flames.

"Too early, Snotlout." Astrid said from the back of Stormfly. "We have to time it perfectly!"

"It wasn't me, it was them!" Snotlout said pointing with his index finger to the twins, who smirked.

"Uh, sorry." Ruffnut apologized.

"Yeah, still working out the kinks." Tuffnut added, chuckling. I just rolled my eyes at them from my place and continued to clean a sword on my hand. I figured out that at some point I'll have to deal hand-to-hand combat and I needed to learn how to use any weapon, from a dagger to a catapult. So I planned to start with sword fighting lessons and Gobber was kind enough to lend me a sword, even if it was just for training.

I held it out at arm length and moved it up and down. The sunlight reflected on the blade. I gave a small smile at my work, then continued to clean it until it was gleaming.

All of a sudden, I was startled when I heard Hookfang caught himself on fire and pace around impatiently. I looked up and sure enough, he looked frustrated.

"Can you calm him down?" Astrid pleaded.

"Fine, whatever." Snotlout said. He walked towards Hookfang and held his horns, then pinned his head to the ground. Hookfang calmed instantly and relaxed. "Figured that one out yesterday. He likes it." Snotlout explained as he got on Hookfang and the Nightmare got up too.

"Wait, wait, wait." Fishlegs said. "He likes having his horns bent to the ground?" He questioned.

"Tuffnut does." Ruffnut pointed a thumb at her twin.

"I do?" Tuffnut raised an eyebrow, and before he knew he was pinned to the ground by his sister. "Oh, yeah... that does feel kinda nice. The dirt's soft..."

I shook my head and stood up from my place. Thora nudged me sensing my worry and I caressed her, assuring that I was fine.

 **"You look sad. I do not** **like it when your lips are curved to the ground."** She said. **"You look nice when they are curved to the sky."**

"I know girl, I like it when they're curved to the sky too." I admitted. "But now I don't feel like they are gonna curve upwards for a while."

This made her sad, but she didn't argue after that. I understood her, I also wanted to stop feeling so bad and do something else, like training to get the Book of Dragons back. But with Ahti's betrayal, I felt like anything could happen.

He was the person I trusted with my life, because he had never dissapointed me. Ever. He was always there for me and helped me get through difficult times, heck, he even knew when I was in my time of the month and when I needed space. This was a new low for him, and though my subconscient had already assimilated what happened, I refused to do it. Because if I did, I would never recoil of anything again.

"Anna?" I heard someone call my name and I turned around to find Hiccup.

"Yes?" I asked.

"Are you feeling alright?" He asked, and the worry in his voice didn't go unnoticed. I just shrugged.

"I think I can handle it."

He pressed his lips into a thin line and held my hand. His gesture caught me off guard, and I gave a little but quiet gasp when he did it. "Do you want to talk about it?"

For the first time in so much time, I felt something spark inside me again. Something it was buried and I hadn't noticed until now. How could I had forgotten what we had before I left? The feelings that we had for each other? The butterflies I felt inside my stomach when I stared at his eyes? It was like if I had never felt it before, and I couldn't get why it happened.

I sighed. "I don't feel like talking right now."

Fortunately, he understood and didn't push me to say something else. He placed a loosen lock behind my ear and smiled warmly to me. "You are too pretty to hide your face behind all that nice hair."

When he said that, I stared blankly at him, not knowing what to say. No one had ever complimented me like that. This was the nicest thing someone had ever said to me, and I didn't notice I was blushing until he mentioned it. "You also look pretty when you blush."

I elbowed him on the arm, but this time it was different. I did it playfully, not aggressively, and I even crack a smile. He just laughed and smiled back.

"There. You look much better when your lips are curved towards the sky." I looked at him in a funny way, and he winked at me. I narrowed my eyes and shook my head, then he started to walk away. "Come with me."

I raised my eyebrows, but I followed him without asking questions. Though on my mind, I was wondering where were we going and why did he want me to follow him. Was it something good or something bad? Knowing Hiccup, it was usually good. 'Usually', because one could never be sure.

We reached the forge and he told me to wait outside. I just nodded in agreement, still feeling a bit warily. I leaned over a wall and crossed my arms, as I remembered all the good times we had Anti and I.

...

 _"Catch me!"_

 _I knew he was running after me, but unfortunately he was too fast and he reached me._

 _"Caught you!"_

 _Then it was his turn to run and I went after him. I suddenly tripped over my own feet and I got a scratch on my knee. It hurt so much, I started crying. Ahti came running to me with a water bottle and washed my cut, then he helped me walk to a bench and he bandaged it._

 _"Thank you."_

 _"You're welcome."_

 _..._

I blinked as the memory ended. We were so little back then, and since I remembered, we were really close. He was my best friend and we would do most anything together, except for a few things. We went to the same school, we lived in the same neighborhood, we had the same likes... Really good times.

I heard footsteps behind me, and I turned to look to Hiccup, but he had something else on his hands. It was a light-colored wooden bow. I gasped at the sight as Hiccup offered me the bow so I could grab it.

"What's this?" I asked as I held it in my hands.

"It's for you." He said. I looked at him with wide eyes, speechless.

"F...for me?" I stuttered and he nodded, handing me a nice quiver full with arrows. I grabbed it and put it on my waist, then I locked an arrow on the string and aimed towards something randomly. I let fly the arrow and we saw it hit...bullseye. Literally.

"Wow." He breathed and I stared at my bow in shock, before a thought came to me. _Could I do better than that?_ I locked another arrow on the string, aimed and let it fly. The arrow hit bullseye, slicing the other in half.

 _Meanwhile..._

Heather and Ahti watched from a safe distance the Outcasts guarding the entrance. She had told him that there was where they held the dragons captive, and there they would find Alvin.

"We need to get in." Heather said.

"Suggestions? Because I've got nothing." Ahti replied with a shrug.

Heather looked at the book on her hands and started to think of something. Right now it was only the two of them, so they had to think of something smart to get in and out in a blink of eye.

"Ahti," Heather started, "I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" He asked, staring at the Outcasts.

"It's about my parents..." She said, looking away. She didn't know if it was right to tell him the truth, but right now they only got each other.

Ahti just dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "I already know."

This caught her by surprise, and she raised her both eyebrows. "You do?"

"About your parents being alive and they have been held captive by the Outcasts?" He gAbe her a smug smile, while she gaped in shock.

"But, how did you–"

"Look, I'll explain to you later, right now we need to think of a plan."

They both snapped their heads backwards when they heard a strange sound behind them. They saw Oak with a dead tree on his jaw like he was playing with it, what caused Heather to chuckle and Ahti to grip his hair anxiously.

"Boy, shhh!" Ahti said as he placed his index finger on his lips. Oak looked at him sheepishly. However, that gave Heather an idea.

* * *

 _Thunk!_

That was the seventh arrow to hit bullseye, slicing the last one in half. By now, all the teens were gaping at me in shock, while I had a look of satisfaction in my face. It seemed archery was my thing.

"That was just incredible." Ruffnut smirked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Thanks." I said. "I sort of like it. But anyway, we have to keep training."

"Talking about training," Fishlegs started, "this is all nice and all but you know, Alvin's not gonna hand us over the book just like that."

"No, but maybe he would hand it over to Heather." Astrid suggested, making me frown.

"Do you realize it's Heather the one with the book," I pointed out. Then my eyes went wide in realization. "Wait, maybe that's it."

"What's it?" Hiccup asked.

"What if we got her and Ahti on our side instead of going against them? I mean, sure what they did was wrong, but I don't believe Ahti would have helped her if there wasn't a reason behind it." I pointed out.

"But why would they do it?" Astrid said. "I mean, Heather could have just said no to Alvin."

I sighed. "I believe it's because her parents are alive."

Hiccup blinked. "Wait, she said her parents were captured by pirates."

"She made it up, Hiccup." Astrid snapped. "Don't you get it already? She lied."

I looked at Astrid a bit surprised. She was not only angry, she was mad. By the sound of her response, I guessed Heather was gonna pay. Though, if I was honest, I didn't hold any grudge. If I put on her shoes, and Alvin asked me to do something so my family could be safe, I would do anything for them. Maybe I was so angry I didn't take time to understand why she did what she did.

"So what do we do now?" Fishlegs asked.

 _Back on Outcast Island..._

"Hey! Who's there?" The Outcast guard demanded pointing his spear when Heather showed up, with the book of dragons under her arm.

She walked to them and prayed on the inside that the plan worked. For Ahti's sake and her parents'.

"I-it's Heather." She replied. "Alvin wants to see me."

"What is the reason?" The other guard demanded, none of them standing back. Heather just smiled, as she made a 'V' with her free hand's fingers. That was the signal for Ahti to appear. Just as Heather was about to say something, fire was shot at the Outcasts, who jumped back to not get roasted alive.

"Hello there!" Ahti yelled from the back of Oak, as he continued firing.

"Hey! Cut it out!" One guard demanded.

"You'll have to catch me first!" Ahti challenged, as they flew away to the other side of the island. The guards shared a look before they ran off behind them. Heather smiled and entered the place as fast as she could. She saw Nadders, Nightmares, Gronkles, and some other kinds of dragons she didn't recognize, but she was sure they weren't treated well.

She was caught by surprise when she heard footsteps behind her and a hand grabbed her forearm, forcing her to turn around. She looked nervously at Alvin, along with Savage and some two Outcasts guards.

"Well, well, Heather." Alvin began. "You've come back."

"Yes." Heather nodded. "And I brought the book." She added, though she did no move to give it to him. Alvin noticed this and extended his arm, waiting for Heather to hand it over. She stared at his hand with indecision, until Alvin called her attention.

"Well? I'm waiting." Heather squeezed her eyes, before she gave him the book. Alvin smirked and laughed for his victory. "Finally! Now, nobody will stop me!"

"Why don't you give it a try, first?" Heather said.

Alvin paused. He wasn't sure if this was a good idea after all. He tossed the book to a guard and he stumbled to catch it.

"You heard the girl." He snarled.

The Outcast gulped as two guard brought out of it's cage a Deadly Nadder. He opened the book at a random page and looked at it anxiously. "Alright. Uh, seems easy enough." He said with false confidence, knowing fully well Alvin was watching him. The Nadder hit the Outcasts that were restraining it with the tail and actually stung another one with it. "Uh, just to be sure...what kinda dragon is this?"

Alvin glared at the guard, however Heather just smirked. "It's a Deadly Nadder." She said, putting her best innocent face. "You need the page number?"

Fortunately, it was the page the Outcast had opened the book. "Uh... Nope. Nope, nope, right here. Deadly Nadder. Likes to preen. Very sure of itself. Uh, constant grooming." He read, then he closed the book and took a breathe. "Hmm, alright, we'll appeal to its vanity."

Heather just shook her head, already getting an idea of how this was gonna end. Clumsily, the Outcast walked towards the dragon, who eyed the human carefully, watching it's every move with it's penetrating eyes.

 **"** Well, you, uh, certainly are a lovely girl." He began. "O-or are you a handsome boy? Wh-who can tell?" The nadder shrieked, and the Outcast just laughed nervously, as he practically slapped the Nadder in the snout. The Nadder, startled, and now angry, prepared to fire at the Outcast. Heather already seeing it coming, run to him, took a shield from a guard on the way and shielded the both of them from the Nadder's spines.

Just then, she exchanged the book and the shield with the guard, him being too stunned to realize what was happening, and looked to Alvin.

"Now, where are my parents?" She dared to ask, putting her best tough face.

"There they are." Alvin gestured to a cell, where it could be seen a man and woman in their early forties. Heather gasped and ran to them, gripping the bars with her hands and smiling at her parents.

"Mom! Dad! Hang on!" She said as she looked around for a way to get them out. Finally, they would be free and they could return to their island. Or that's what she thought.

" _Oooh, Heather..._ " She heard Alvin call her name in a sing-song voice, what made her frown in worry and give her chills. She turned her head around and looked at Alvin, who moved aside revealing something. More like, someone too.

"Heather!" Ahti cried as he struggled to escape from the Outcasts grasp, who only forced him down to his knees. Behind him, Oak was muzzled and his wings were chained, and since he didn't have any legs, he was been dragged on the rocky floor by the Outcasts. She gasped in shock and looked fearfully at Alvin.

"So...something you mind explaining?" Alvin raised an eyebrow. She just backed away to a wall, as he made his way towards her.

 _At night..._

I felt the cold wind hit my face and sent a shudder running down my back. Good thing I wore sleeves, otherwise, I would be frozen. ...God, how many times have I used that reference already?

"T-t-t-this is gonna w-work, right?" Fishlegs asked, breaking the silence since we flew away from Berk. "'I wanna go on record as saying I'm not so sure about this plan."

"If you have another one, I'm open." Hiccup offered.

"I just think landing in a wild dragon nesting ground is really going to freak Meatlug out."

Right, thanks for reminding me I hated this plan as well. The plan was that after landing on the island, two of us would sneak in and get out with Heather and Ahti, to try and convince them that we could work together as a team. The question was, who from all of us would go?

"Well, how does she feel about flaming arrows and catapults?" Hiccup asked Fishlegs.

"Uh, yeah, she really doesn't like those, either." Fishlegs said uneasy, and I sent a look to my arrows.

"Well Fishlegs, you better tell her to woman up, because that's what she's gonna see pretty much." I called over the wind, which didn't help at the moment. I could swore winter was coming earlier this time, since the past two weeks it hadn't stopped blowing wherever I went, what made me wonder if it was just me, or if Berk was this cold every year.

We flew around two hours since in nighttime we couldn't see much and it delayed us, but eventually we arrived to the island. Now, here it came when things were about to get kinda ugly. Quietly, I locked an arrow on the string, while looking around for any sign of a dragon. Thora growled sightly, and I patted her on the side, calming her down. But she just growled louder and soon the other dragons started too, what made Fishlegs whimper and the others to worry. Except for the twins, of course, who enjoyed watching as much destruction as they could.

"Guys, remember! Stick to the plan! No matter how crazy it gets."

"Crazy? I love crazy!" Snotlout said, and for a moment I feared he was going to start singing. I sighed in relief when he didn't, but Sabrina made me the favor to start playing the song on my head and I had to hold back a groan. "Bring it! Wait! What's the plan again?"

This time, I did groan. And just when I thought things could not get any worse, we saw a pack of wild dragons flying straight towards us.

"Incoming!" Astrid warned us.

"Now! Fire!" Hiccup yelled.

Everyone opened the baskets they had on their backs, dropping it's contents. Most of the dragons stopped following us and went behind the fish. I fired arrows at some of the dragons, some of them I had lucky shots and they fell unconscious to the ground. Hiccup raised an eyebrow at that and looked at me confused.

"I have been experimenting with Dragon Nip, and figured out a way to use it on the arrows." I admitted sheepishly.

"There it is!" Astrid pointed forwards and we saw something at the distance, it was like a small fortress where we guessed Alvin was. And of course, Heather and Ahti.

Once we had landed, we discussed who were going to look out for Ahti and Heather. However, I suggested to apply a different method. I held out in my hand a bunch of sticks of different sizes, and they all grabbed one. Then we compared them, and when I realized who was going I wanted to scream to the Gods.

Hiccup and me. The both of us got the smaller sticks in size. I sighed and looked at him.

"Well, shall we get going?"

I nodded. After calming our dragons down and promising we were going to come back safe and sound, we started walking as I hummed Taylor's Swift song. It was one of my favorite songs, and singers, too bad I didn't have my iPhone with me.

"What's that?" Hiccup asked me, and I blushed. I didn't expect him to put me attention, and much less to ask what was I humming. Here in Berk, people didn't use to sing unless it was Snoggletog, a viking celebration Hiccup told me about. It sounded pretty much alike to Christmas, except there weren't any presents, or any traditional food and drinks, or no "Santa Claus" to be believed in. I wondered if they believed in Nightlight.

~ _*cough* Jack Frost *cough*_ ~

"It's a song," I said. "From a very famous singer I like. I remembered the song when we were with our dragons and... I started to hum."

He nodded in understanding and we continued walking in silence, until he talked again.

"Do you do it often?"

I thought about it, and he was right. I did it very often actually, just that I didn't sing unless I was with my friends. Well, every once in a while I would sing.

"Ehh, not so much. And you?"

He shook his head. "No, not really. I used to do it when I was a kid, but the others would pick on me... so..."

Ugh, yeah right. It really bothered me every time Hiccup told me how would the others treat him before he knew Toothless. How would they pick on him and make fun out of him for not being able to pick up a sword without struggling and for being smaller than the average vikings of his age.

"Mom used to sing a special song to me," I said, "when I was a kid. She used to do it so I would go to sleep. Now, I've forgotten most of the verses because she won't do that anymore, but still it brings a smile to me."

By now, we were walking side to side, when we started there was a foot of space between us.

"I... haven't hear you sing before." Hiccup admitted in a low voice, what made me blink. I remembered singing a lot of times, but didn't realize he never heard my voice. Even the Vikings heard me when Astrid, Ahti and I did the Cup song on the Hall, but he wasn't there.

"Maybe later on I can sing a mashup of songs I've been working with my friends from back home." I said. "Sounds like a good idea?"

"Sure, sister."

I stopped dead on my tracks. It had been almost a month since we called each other 'brother' and 'sister', and the fact that he remembered and called me that almost brought some tears to my eyes. It reminded me of how close we were he and I, and how much affection we had lost between us. Heck, we kissed for Odin's sake. Where did all that love go to?

I smiled at the nickname, and we continued walking until we arrived to a part of the island with cliffs, joined together by a wooden bridge which seem very unsteady to my liking. We had to go one by one, and once we crossed it, we entered to what it seemed like the entrance of a cavern. As we walked in, it surprised me there were torches on the walls, and then I saw something in the dark.

I walked towards it, until my hand touched something hard and metallic. Before I could realize what it was, something ran towards me, making me jump back two meters. It took me three seconds to realize it was a dragon, a Nadder to be exact.

"Poor guy." I muttered, feeling compassion for the dragon who seemed weary. I could notice scratches and scars all over it's body, while the dragon looked at me like if it was gonna rip my head off. It made me feel uneasy, so we kept walking much to my relief, until we noticed another thing.

On every side of the cavern were cells, an a dragon could be seen behind the bars. There were Nadders, Gronkles, two Nightmares, and some other dragons from the Book. The Book! For a moment I almost forgot why we were in this horrible place, get the Book of Dragons back from Alvin's dirty hands.

"Whoa."

"What?" I turned to Hiccup with a raised eyebrow as he stared at me. "What are you staring at?"

"Don't you see? Your necklace is glowing!"

"What?" I asked in confusion as I reached for my necklace. When the tips of my fingers met the shell, I pulled it at my eye's level. He was right, it was glowing in the dark giving us more light than the actual torches, and it also felt warm somehow.

"Leave him alone!" A voice echoed in the cave. My eyes went wide.

 _Ahti._

Hiccup and I shared glances, before I sprinted leaving him behind. As I ran through the tunnels of the cave, I could feel my necklace warming up and the light glowing with more intensity than before. It felt as if it was guiding me through the place. Soon, I found the person I was looking for.

"Ahti!"

He was giving me his back at the moment, until he heard me calling his name. He lifted his head before snapping back at me with wide eyes, as if he couldn't believe I was here. I even pinched myself to make sure _I_ was real.

"Annabelle." He said in disbelief, getting up to his knees. He shook his head and asked me, "What are you doing here?"

"Rescuing you." I said, as I walked towards him.

"I don't need to be rescued." He replied shaking his head once again, looking self-centered for a moment, before his face softened. "You have to go, it's not safe."

I gripped the bars of his cell, corrupted by the dirt and rust. "I'm not leaving without you." I said, pulling the bars though I knew it was no use.

"You don't understand, it's—"

"I do", I cut him. "I know you did what you did to protect me, and I'm glad for that, but this is the part when I repay you the favor and get you out of this prison."

"No, you can't." I stopped struggling and he gulped before adding, "it's a trap."

That's when all hell broke loose. Arrows were fired at Hiccup and me, and we barely had time to dodge them dropping on our stomachs to the floor, before I got to one knee and fired back my own arrows. More Outcasts appeared out of the blue, blocking the entrance where we came from. _Oh, crap._

A dark chuckle was heard, and it didn't take long before the owner of that evil laugh showed up himself, a sleek haired girl next to him.

"Well, well, if it's not the so called 'Dragon Conqueror' and Stoick's own heir?" Alvin asked, putting air quotes to the words "dragon conqueror". I caught a glimpse of the Book of Dragons strapped to his belt.

"If it isn't my less favorite Scandinavian chief?" I retorted, and smirked when I saw the confusion across everybody's face, except for Ahti who understood perfectly the reference.

"So you did payed attention to Miss History?" He asked with a grin, much to my annoyance.

"Okay, I did not like her nor the subject. Doesn't mean I did not try to read the books." I said with a shrug.

"Enough!" Alvin snapped, who seemed to be annoyed after realizing he suddenly was left out of the conversation. Once he got everyone's attention, he smiled. "Well, Heather, look what you've done." He said to Heather, as she glared at him. "You lie to some complete strangers so you can save your parents, they put all their trust in you, you come back to me and here they are thinking you're now one of them."

"She is one of us." Hiccup affirmed, talking for the first time since Alvin arrived. "And she will come with us, along with Ahti."

Alvin just laughed. "And what makes you think I'll let you go?"

"We could make a deal." I offered with a tempting smile.

"Who are you? Rumplestiltskin?" Ahti played along, once again everybody gave us weird looks. The fact they did not get the references almost made me want to laugh out loud for at least some good five minutes, rolling on the ground like a retarded seal.

~ _If people could know what's on your head, you would be right now in a mental hospital_ ~

I can't argue to that.

"What type of deal?"

I thought Alvin was just joking, but when I said nothing, he tapped the floor with his foot. Oh, he was serious.

I sighed, before explaining. "If you let them go, I could be a great help with that book. And that includes Heather's parents as well."

Ahti's alarms went off, I saw it in his eyes. He ran to the bars, but something held him back and until now I had a full vision of him. Chains were holding his wrists to the floor, not really giving him chance to move around, what made him growl in frustration for a moment. "Them?" He mouthed to me, though I did not face him but did catch him speaking to me from the corner of my eye.

Alvin's expression darkened. He knew I had betrayed him once. Honestly, 'betray' was a strong word, but I knew it seemed like that to him, and it was getting to me. He let an audible "hmmm..." before gesturing to his men, and the Outcasts practically ran to the cell. In a matter of seconds, Ahti and Heather were in our side, but I couldn't greet them properly knowing Alvin was watching us. I had to look serious.

"Now, you will keep your word." Alvin said, as the Outcasts did their way towards me. Before they reached me, I stopped them.

"Why don't we try it outside? There are less probabilities that a dragon will attack." I said, and it was sort of right. A dragon would attack no matter where they were if they were feeling in danger, but been able to fly off if necessary would help at some point.

"Alright."

Alvin followed us from close behind while we walked out of here. I could see the relief on Ahti's and Heather's face, and actually I was relieved too that Alvin had bought it all. Or he was just playing along, but either way I got him to do what I wanted.

Soon, we saw the gang on the distance. Alvin did not see them, or that's what I assumed. I raised a hand and waved to them, as I saw them rise to the sky. The plan was back on track.

"Oh Annabelle..." Alvin called. "I'm waiting..."

"As you wish..." Hiccup and I shared a look, and I nodded to him. He whispered to the guys, and they all seem to get it quickly. "Scatter!" I yelled.

We all ran in different directions, confusing the Outcasts for a second. But that second was all we need to get advantage. Not we had to use it as much as we could.

The dragon riders arrived and they all started to attack. Meatlug charged at the soldiers, Stormfly and Hookfang fired, and Barf and Belch played with them tossing them in the air, then throwing in them around. Toothless and Thora arrived just then.

 **"Finally! What took you so long?"** Thora asked as I sat on the saddle.

"I'm sorry, girl. Let's just put an end to this." I rubbed her scales. Hiccup was having a similar case with Toothless, and soon we charged at the soldiers. But we didn't expect them to be prepared for this.

"Now!" Alvin ordered.

Soon, the table turned over. A net was thrown at Fishlegs and Meatlug, while a lasso was thrown at the Zippleback's necks, and the twins fell off their dragon. Two Outcasts managed to get Stormfly as well, while a bola was thrown at Thora and we rolled to the ground, together. I tried to reach out for an arrow so I could cut the net, but I couldn't.

"There's too many of them!" Snotlout yelled, as Outcasts appeared from the trees and fired arrows with the crossbows.

Just then, a shadow flew above all of us. A limb took the net off the Gronkle and its rider, and fire at the rope on the Zippleback and the Nadder, sending them free. Then I felt like a blade cutting through the net of the bola and we soon were free too. I looked up and smiled when I saw a teen riding on the back of a Timberjack... make them two riders. We took to the sky.

"Perfect timing, I must admit." I yelled to my friends.

"You should thank her," Ahti nodded his head towards Heather, who only blushed.

"Thank you. Both of you." Heather looked up surprised to me, and I just smiled in gratitude. She flashed me a smile of her own.

"Alright guys, just like we practiced!" Hiccup said, watching the twins climb on the back of his dragon and join us up in the sky. "Ruffnut, cover fire!"

"It's about time!" She said as Barf spread gas all around the place.

"I love this part!" Tuffnut cheered. "Wait for it..." With a little spark from Belch's mouth, the gas caught on fire. Then, a boulder was about to hit Meatlug and Fishlegs, just like we practiced on the Academy. However, Meatlug ate it with no problem at all.

"Nice catch girl! Lava blast!" Fishlegs said.

While they did that, Astrid managed to get Heather's parents, and Stormfly carried them away safely on her talons. "Now, Snotlout!" Astrid yelled, and Hookfang set himself on fire.

"Go for it!" He said.

Stormfly shot out her spines, which caught on fire thanks to Hookfang, and hit the trees. Soon, the entire forest, which consisted of dead trees, caught on fire and the Outcasts ran away.

"Great job, guys. Let's get out of here." Hiccup said. But then I remembered.

"The book!" I exclaimed, Thora and I paused at mid air. The others noticed and their eyes widened when we heard a scream through the air.

"Look out!" Heather warned us, but it was too late. I felt someone abruptly hitting my back and I lurched forwards, falling from the back of my dragon. As I saw the ground rushing to meet me, I tried to hold onto a tree, but the branch snapped under my weight and I fell to the floor. As I pulled myself into a sitting position, someone carried me away.

"Annabelle!" Hiccup gasped, flying towards me. Alvin held me from the collar of my shirt over a cliff. I gripped his hand on instinct, but it was also because I didn't want him to let go.

"Surrender! Or her life ends here!" Alvin said. When nobody did anything, Alvin's grip loosened, while I gripped his hand harder. I gaped as I had a look at the cliff, staring at the pointy stacks down below and I sort of panicked, my hands started to shake and I started hyperventilating.

"Do it, bud." Hiccup said.

"Toothless, don't!" I ordered, and Toothless closed his mouth shut. Alvin raised an eyebrow.

"You rather die?" He challenged.

"One hundred times before helping you!"

I felt like my shirt was slipping from his hand, when something completely new to everyone happened. Alvin cried in pain as he let me go and I fell to the ground, almost falling into the cliff but I managed to crawl away from the edge. I got the Book from him and ran away as far as I could, and then I dared to look what was wrong.

His arm was covered in chunks of ice. It was spreading until it got to his shoulder and stopped. I gasped at the sight and crawled backwards even more, suddenly afraid and completely confused. I looked at my own hands, wondering for a second if I was capable of doing that out of pure fear or rage, I didn't know. The air got colder, and the wind started blowing, mostly around me as I tried to keep some loose locks of hair away from my face.

Alvin was caught off as well and gasped when he saw his arm covered in ice.

"What the—?!"

"Argh!" I gripped my neck when I felt something burning my skin, and I realized it was my necklace, which was glowing as radiant as ever. I gripped it in my fist and moved it away, staring in horror at the dark scorch mark in my skin, just below where my neck ended. "Ow!" Then I had to release it again and I stared at my hand. Now my fingers had black burns all over them. "Oh boy..."

"Anna!"

I looked up and Hiccup offered me a hand to jump to Toothless' saddle, which I gladly accepted. I got the Book under my arm, and then we flew away from Outcast Island. I sighed in relief, but hissed when I moved to turn back and I had to release my grip on Hiccup.

"Are you alright..."

He trailed off when I moved the necklace away, which was still burning. And then, the glow suddenly died in my hand and the necklace cooled down rapidly.

"I'm fine... I think."

He gave me an incredulous look.

"Once we get to Berk, you should see Gothi." He said, more like an order than a suggestion. Man, I should've won the Nursery Award a long time ago.

* * *

Gothi almost scolded me for getting hurt again, though I didn't understand how, but I let her treat me. After that, we gathered on the docks to say Heather a properly goodbye.

"I can't thank you all enough." Heather said. "Especially you, Ahti. You did so much for us, and even put your life in the line when you didn't have to do it."

"Eh, it was nothing. I knew you were no threat since the beginning, you just needed to trust a bit." Ahti replied with a smile, which she gave back.

"I'm gonna miss you." She said as she hugged each of us, although Astrid almost didn't hugged her back because it was kinda strange for her. Guess she wasn't much of hugging people. "All of you." She added as she scratched Toothless and Oak. Thora nudge me and I scratched her, she purred in content and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Who knows. Maybe we'll see each other again sometime." Hiccup said.

"Maybe we will." Heather nodded.

"Just promise me one thing," Ahti said. "If you need help again, you'll ask."

"I will. I promise." Heather said lastly, before giving him a peck on the cheek, then running off to her boat, leaving a blushing Ahti behind. I just elbowed him playfully and he looked away, while we all laughed.

"Shut up." He said, failing miserably to hide his smile.

If I was honest, it would be nice to see Heather again one day when we were older, and see how life was going in a few years. Everyone hated to see their friends go, but I knew I should believe in fate, and everything would be set on it's place.

* * *

The scorch marks on his finger were still healing, faster than normal people, but he still could feel the pain that erupted when his ring glowed like it never did before. Frost curled around his finger, and he let a sigh of relief when the wound was almost completely healed, leaving no sign of burns.

He was sure of one thing now. They were here. Well, he was not sure for how many exactly, but the girl was back. Which meant _she_ was back as well, but he wondered if they came together or if they came on their own. He hoped it was the first option, because the second could mean some serious trouble.

 _Besides the trouble they already get themselves into?_

He smirked and shook his head at that, they were so much like him in a way. Always getting into trouble, but having fun and always looking for adventures. It wouldn't surprise him if they met the Easter Kangaroo and he scolded them as well.

There was a chirp and he looked up. He smiled when he noticed a small body covered in feathers fly her way to him. "Baby Tooth!" He exclaimed.

Baby Tooth gave a few quick chirps, and he smiled. "I know! I found one of them! Remember this woman's kid?" His smile dropped when she tilted her head to the side, like not knowing what woman he was talking about.

"The one who lived on the island! You know, blonde hair, black clothing?" He described, but to be honest it had passed so many time he barely remembered the image of the woman at the moment. Baby Tooth just nodded so he could go on. "Well, I think she had another kid at least. It was a girl, and I saw her!"

Her eyes went wide as she chirped something like, _"Saw her? Where? Did she see you too?"_ more less.

"Ehh...no, she didn't see me, but she did notice I was there."

He was sure, she had felt him, just like Jack had felt her presence. And it was all because of his ring.

 _"Where are they now?"_ Baby Tooth chirped.

"In an island called Berk, I believe. I heard one of her companions mention the name when they were leaving." He said with a smile, as he spread frost all around the place, covering in a thin layer of snow the island. It was his job as Winter Spirit, after all. Once he finished his job of bringing the winter, he let the Wind carry him away heading towards the island in question.

* * *

 **Hi there!**

 **Sorry for the long wait guys, I had a bit of writer's block and a lot of homework the past few days. I hope this long chapter might do :) Almost reaching 8,000 words! I don't like to leave you waiting too much time, but I can't promise any earlier updates, I'm sorry.**

 **And well, I didn't actually planned Annabelle and Hiccup to go the both of them together and look out for Heather and Ahti, so I used a webpage called 'wheel decide', made a list with the gang including Annabelle, and spun it twice. And they came out in that order. Believe me, I was like: o_O "Are you kidding me?!" But hey, I guess fate does want them together after all, huh? ;)**

 **Oh, I really hope you like that last part, any ideas of what's going on and who's the woman in question? Hint: she's Annabelle's mother. But I guess you already know that. Okay, another hint: she does makes her appearance in HTTYD. And by HTTYD I mean in general, from movies to series to books, etc. I'm not saying more, because I think some of you will figure out very soon, though it won't be revealed until much later on the story. **

**So, how do you feel this story is going? Is it good, is it bad? Is it funny, is it boring? Any suggestions or ideas for the next chapters you guys wanna make? Reviews are greatly appreciated, as always. Also, we're getting super close to get to the 50 reviews! :D I love you so much, my dear readers! Thanks for all your support!**

 **UNT (until next time)...**

 **Scout017, out.**


	12. Thawfest

Today, the Academy was different. It was completely decorated with flags and banners, what made me wonder what festivity was going on. I didn't know much about Viking traditions, to be honest. I could barely keep with my home's traditions.

The Thawfest Games were new for me, but also kinda familiar. They consisted in a series of events where your strength is put up to test and for each event you win, you get a point. The one with more points is the winner.

Now, that sounded very interesting really, and I wanted so much to participate in the games, until I found out the Jorgenson family always won. More like, one of them.

That just irritated me and impulsed me to give the best of me. I promised myself I would beat Snotlout Jorgenson, which would be a complete challenge.

We found ourselves at the Dragon Academy, when Gobber gave us a surprising new. This year, and for the first time ever, the dragons would be part in the games.

But then I thought, it was very easy for Snotlout to win because there were only three events and were always the same, every year. So then I proposed to have another three. At first I thought he wouldn't accept, but to my surprise Gobber agreed. And not only him, the other riders also thought it was a good idea. That motivated me even more.

Then, Snotlout arrived saying he would win with or without dragons, showing his metals while he walked to us, as if he was just named Miss Universe. I turned to see my friends faces, and everyone was fulminating him with their gaze.

"You know what I love about the Thawfestival Games? Winning!"

"As if we didn't noticed." Hiccup murmured, throwing daggers at him.

"My family has never lost a Thawfest Games. Ever." He remarked while he grabbed one of his metals between his fingers.

"My bad," I said with a hand on my chest, "but this year I hope you are prepared to lose."

The expression he had was to snap a photo. After a moment he recomposed and asked: "says who?"

"I do. You'll be tasting our dust by the time Thora and I win."

"As if that could happen." He scoffed as he mounted Hookfang. "I will crush you all!" He yelled before we lost him of sight. I placed my hands on my hips, challenging.

"We'll see."

 _Later that night..._

Hiccup and I were sat on his room discussing some new ideas for the games. We were planning strategies, in a way we could win in the majority of the events, or at least one of us gain a point.

On the first three events I didn't see a chance of winning. The first one consisted to carry a sheep over your shoulders and run to the goal line. I couldn't even carry Lucy, how would they hope I would carry a sheep and run? Although, maybe they were kind of lighter.

Next there was another event in which we have to threw an axe and hit bullseye. I couldn't lift an axe, they were way much more heavy than a sword, much less throw it. Although I saw a possibility of Astrid gaining a point, because she was very good with axes.

Last but not least, the third event consisted in running on a log and staying on it until be the last one standing. Now, _that_ was impossible.

"Son, are you home?" A voice boomed through the house and the door of the room opened, revealing Stoick. He looked at me and a smile appeared on his lips. "Ah, hello sweety, I didn't know you were here."

"Hi, sir. I was just talking to Hiccup about the games."

"Ah, in fact that's precisely what I wanted to talk about..."

Hiccup and I looked at each other before turning to Stoick. "Ooookay?" Hiccup said.

"Well... I just wanted to say... Uh... You know, with the dragons, you could actually, uh..."

"Beat Snotlout? Best the Jorgensons?" Hiccup guessed with a raised eyebrow. Stoick smiled.

"Well, when you put it that way it does have a nice ring." He said nodding his head, and then we fell into an awkward silence. He clasped his hands together. "Okay, then! I'll let you get back to whatever it is, um, you two do. Yeah."

He leaved faster than he arrived. I chuckled and moved slightly my head, before returning to our notes. It was in that moment a thought pasted through my head. I lifted my head and looked at Hiccup.

"Hiccup, you know the most important is to have fun, right?"

He looked at me and smiled, and for some reason his smile melted my heart.

"Of course yes. Is just that..."

"What is it?"

He sighed and left the pencil in the desk. "I would like for once, make him eat his words. I don't say I have to win, but someone else did to shut Snotlout up. Is that too much to ask?"

Toothless sensed the tension in his rider and walked up from his spot to him, nudging him gently with his head. Hiccup caressed him, still depressed.

He looked at me like waiting a response. I did a grimace considering his words, it made sense what he told me, but, although I did wanted to shut him up, I also wanted to enjoy my first games. And mostly now since there would be a lot of events, increasing our possibilities.

I looked at him briefly before looking at my hands.

"I guess not."

* * *

The next day, we found ourselves on the academy since very early. All the village was reunited to come and watch us compete, what made me a little nervous but I managed to control it. On one of the walls from the arena, our faces were painted, including Ahti's and mine. That was the scoreboard.

When Stoick got to the platform, all the Vikings roared in cheers and applause.

"Let the Thawfestival Games begin!"

He opened a chest that was just at his side, freeing some Terrible Terrors, each one from a different color.

Mulch indicated us to line up, so they would give us a sheep. They put one over my shoulders and for a moment I jerked backwards, but I managed to stood still.

Everything was going fine, until I saw Snotlout walking wearing all his metals to the line, as he waved to the expectators. He took them off and they gave him a sheep, then he spat on his hands and washed his face. I shuddered at the sight and focused on the finish line.

Mulch used a horn so his voice would be heard all over the place. "On your mark..." As he talked, all of us readied on the line. "Get set..." We got down on one knee, and my sheep almost fell off, so I gripped its legs. There was a clang when Mulch hit Bucket's bucket with his hook, and we ran.

Snotlout got way ahead of us fast, followed by Ahti. Astrid and I ran at the same level, while Hiccup ran behind us and the others behind him. Snotlout was obviously the one to reach the goal line first.

"Yeah!" He cried as he threw off his sheep. The poor animal bounced like a ball against the floor, then to Hookfang and ended on its feet, before walking away.

"That's my boy!" His father cried.

I reached the end moments later, and I collapsed on my knees as I let the sheep fall from my back and run away. I painted, trying to catch my breath. Astrid offered me a hand, which I gladly accepted and helped me to stand up. Ahti was leaning against a wall red on the face from the effort, trying to catch his breath as well.

"The first point of the Thawfest Games goes to Snotlout!" Mulch announced, as the Vikings cheered and clapped their hands.

Meanwhile, Hiccup just finished the race and collapsed under the weight of the sheep. I shooed it away and helped him get back on his feet. He stretched, and his back cracked.

"Well, at least we managed to end this event." I said, trying to see the bright side.

"Yeah, right." Hiccup said, geating away the dirt off his clothes. "However, we're gonna have to do better to actually beat Snotlout."

I sighed. "Yeah, I know..."

Next, it followed the Log Roll event. I had problem to stand up on the log, and I had no idea of how I was gonna stay balanced while running.

Snotlout cracked his neck. "Enjoy your face-plant!"

We started running, but he rapidly gained control over the log and one by one all the riders fell. Surprisingly, we were missing Hiccup, Snotlout and me. However, I lost my balance of a sudden and I fell to the flour sacks, seconds before Hiccup did.

"And another point goes to Snotlout!" Mulch announced.

Hiccup groaned as he stood up and got the flour off his clothes, until an unexpected sound was heard. Everyone turned to the sound, frowning.

Laugh. Someone was laughing. But what was weird the most, was that _I_ was laughing.

I was laughing. Because I had _fun_. I couldn't believe that I had lasted so much time and almost won this challenge. That was a triumph for me, besides, I found kind of fun falling into flour sacks and then see a thin cloud of white dust flying around, while some parts of me were covered in flour. I stood up trying to contain my laughter, but I couldn't help myself and snorted, as I laughed again.

"What are you laughing at?" Ahti asked, half of his hair white, covered in flour.

"N-nothing." I said, still shaking. "I just... I just found it a bit funny, that's all."

When I settled down, we readied ourselves for the next event, and my least favorite. The Axe Throwing contest. Snotlout threw the axe and hit bullseye. Astrid and Fishlegs threw their axes at the same time and they clashed with one another, before falling to the ground. The twins almost chopped the heads of some Vikings, including Stoick's. Hiccup threw his axe, but it ended one meter away from the target.

I looked at my axe, I knew I was missing, and that I was gonna fail terrible at this, so that would mean Snotlout would gain a third point and no else. I wasn't looking towards that.

"Here." I handed Astrid my axe, and she took it in her hands, eyes wide in surprise. "You have a second chance, think you can use it and try to beat Snotlout?"

Astrid looked at me, nodding in determination. She positioned herself in front of a target, breathed in and out, and threw the axe.

 _Thunk!_

"Bull's Eye!" Mulch cried, and everyone exploded in cheers.

Astrid eye widened when she realized she just gained a point. She looked up to the crowd and raised a fist in the air, a big grin on her face.

"She... Did it." Hiccup said, and all the riders started cheering. "Whoo-ho! Atta go, Astrid!"

"That was awesome! You hit the target right in the center!" Fishlegs exclaimed.

"Go Astrid!" Ahti yelled.

"Astrid! Astrid! Astrid!" The twins chanted, moving their fists up and down in the air.

Snotlout gaped in shock as Bucket painted a blue line besides Astrid's picture on the wall, which made Snotlout have three and Astrid one. "Wait, what?! How did it happen?!"

Astrid ran to me and hugged me tight. "Annabelle, thank you so much!"

I was stunned for a moment. She wasn't very fond of hugs, so this was a lot to take in. My smile returned and I also returned the hug. "You're welcome."

"Next on!" Mulch announced. "This year, we've added some more events for the Thawfestival games!"

"What?! Since when?!" Snotlout cried. "I demand an explanation for this!"

"What's the matter, Snotlout?" I asked, placing my hands behind my back. "Afraid of losing?" I raised a smugly eyebrow.

"Afraid? Ha! In your dreams." He said, before walking away. I shrugged and walked back besides Hiccup and Ahti.

"The next event's called, Hammer Throw. Which basically consists on throwing a hammer as far as you can. The hammer that reaches further wins." Mulch explained.

We walked to a sand box, where we stood up in a line and each of us got a hammer. Fishlegs was the first in throwing it, but it didn't get further than half a foot. Next, were the twins, who turned around in circles and then threw as far as they could their hammers. They reached three feet. Astrid, three and half. Hiccup, one and half.

Then it came my turn. I knew since the beginning I wouldn't be able to throw it very far, but I wouldn't lose anything at giving it a shot. I picked up the hammer, did a few turns and threw it. It landed three feet away, which was way more than I was expecting.

"Nice throw." Hiccup said, and I smiled.

"Thank-a you."

"Your turn, Snotlout." Ahti said.

Snotlout glared at us before picking up the hammer with all the world's dignity, giving five quick turns and throwing it with a cry. It landed four feet away.

I blinked. That took me off guard. "Wow. Who knew he had such an arm?" I muttered.

Snotlout turned to me with a big grin of satisfaction. "So... You were saying something about losing? I win this challenge!"

"Ah-ah!" I raised a finger. "Ahti's missing."

Snotlout scowled and crossed his arms, muttering to himself.

"Here's how it's done, champion." Anti picked up the hammer with ease, breathed in and out and turned as fast as he could. He let go of the hammer seconds later, and we all saw how it sailed through the sky, adding with a loud thud. Sand was all over the place, as Bucket counted the distance.

"Five feet and half!" He said.

I looked flabbergasted at my friend. That meant...

"And Ahti wins the Hammer Throw contest!"

"You won! You won the challenge!" I threw my arms around Ahti's neck, as he held me tightly. Bucket painted a blue line besides Ahti's picture.

"What!? I say we go again!" Snotlout said.

Nobody listened to him, everyone was too busy celebrating Ahti's victory. The riders seemed super happy even if not all had a point, but at least Snotlout hadn't won all of them. Even better, they were enjoying the games.

"I can't wait for the next contest!" Tuffnut said. "What's next? Mount a yak? A yak's race? Mount a yak's race?"

I laughed at his enthusiasm, they really were enjoying this and so was I. Snotlout looked like he had just received a slap on the face.

"Not exactly," Gobber replied at Tuff's question. "The next event is one of the most weirdest ones I've ever heard, but I suppose I'll have to see it to believe it."

It was time for the Sheaf Toss. It consisted of a player using a pitchfork to hurl a burlap bag stuffed with straw over a horizontal bar above the competitor's head. One chance was given to each competitor to cleanly go over the bar, without touching it.

Some Vikings managed to put some sort of tall wood rings, where the flour bags we were gonna use would pass through. There were three rings, each one taller than the last one. One by one, all of my friends did their best to get it through.

Unfortunately, no one managed to get it through the three. Not even Snotlout. But there was one person who hadn't tried. Me.

I held the pitchfork in my hands, pinched a bag and walked away a few steps from the rings, what no one thought of doing. I threw the bag, and it passed through all the rings, almost touching the last for some inches, but it didn't.

"Annabelle manages to do a perfect score!" Mulch said.

My heartbeat increased. I... I did it? I did it! I matched a point!

I jumped up and down like a little girl, before waving to the crowd and doing a little bow. My friends came running towards me and embraced me in a hug, cheering for me.

"I just can't believe what's happening!" Fishlegs said. "No one has ever been close to beat Snotlout, ever!"

"It's not over yet, Fishlegs." Hiccup said, but he looked... Different. Happier.

"Last but not least, today's final event is... Archery!"

 _I totally got this._

Eight targets were placed side by side on the opposite side from where we were standing. I locked an arrow on the string, and waited for the first one to fire. Fishlegs shot the target, but the edge. Astrid shot an allow, which ended just besides the center. One of the twins arrows barely missed Silent Sven, while the other almost shot the dragons. Ahti shot his arrow, hiting the blue. Hiccup got inches above the center. And then...

"Bull's Eye!"

My arrow flew straight to the center, but it wasn't the only one. Snotlout hit bull's eye as well. He threw his arms in the air as the crowd cheered for him.

"Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about!"

The teens groaned.

"Showoff." Hiccup grumbled.

 _Snap!_

There was a note of silence when a snapping sound rumbled across the academy. Snotlout turned around at the sound, and gaped when he noticed what happened.

His arrow was sliced in half... By another arrow. He looked backwards, and found me, aiming at his target. I locked another arrow, aimed at the target and focused. I closed one eye and felt the soft feathers resting against my cheek. I took a deep breathe, and let the arrow fly.

The arrow sliced my own other arrow, and something else. The shield which was used as a target cracked.

Everyone was openmouthed. There was a _clang_ , meaning the end of today's games. All the riders went to check the scoreboard, which was more less like this:

Snotlout, three points. Astrid, one point. Ruffnut, zero points. Tuffnut, zero points. Fishlegs, zero points. Ahti, one point. I, two points. Hiccup, zero points.

"Well, dead last." Hiccup muttered sadly.

"Wow! I have all the points and the best-looking picture?" Snotlout appeared. "Unfair!"

"Watch your back, Snotlout." I said. "I'm just two points away from winning this thing. I hope you're prepared for what's coming tomorrow, specially since there are new Dragon events."

"Oh, I can't wait. Because Hookfang and I? It's like boy and dragon have become one. We're like a Bragon. Or a Droy." He looked for a brief moment at his dragon and an idea passed through his mind. "Or a Snotfang!"

"Yeah? Well, tomorrow you're gonna have to deal with... Hictooth!" Hiccup said.

"Hictooth?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's not my snappiest comeback." Hiccup sighed.

"And people asks why do they ship you two, when you just said it." Ahti muttered. I raised an eyebrow.

"Would repeat what you said? Something about ship*?" I asked.

His eyes went wide. "I... gotta go."

And in a blink of an eye he was gone with Oak, leaving me very confused. I would have to ask him later about that shipping stuff.

"You've spiked your last sheep, 'Snotfang.' Tomorrow's a new day." Hiccup muttered, darkly, glaring at the pair which flew away. I frowned, was there something wrong with him? He seemed fine just a while ago. Now, he was... acting weird. I hoped that things would turn out better tomorrow.

* * *

"Welcome to day two of the Thawfest Games!" Mulch announced. "Let the Dragon events begin!"

"'And may the odds be ever, on your favor.'" I added dramatically, waving a hand in the air while looking to the sky. Ahti laughed as he got the reference and I also managed a chuckle.

"First up, the Hurdles!"

"Hurdles, shmurdles. I could make it over those things in my sleep." Snotlout said.

Hiccup smirked. "Be my guest." He offered, extending a hand.

Astrid shook her head with a small smile. "You don't go _over_ them Snotlout, you go _under_ them." She waved her arm for emphasis.

Snotout rolled his eyes. "Duh. I knew that."

"And first up is Fishlegs!"

Fishlegs and Meatlug flew under the first hurdle, and unfortunately they got stuck as glue since it was kinda low for them... or they were too big for it. Meatlug tried batting her wings to fly away, but no matter how much she tried they didn't move an inch.

"Um, guys! A little help over here!" Fishlegs called, then he look down to Meatlug. "It's okay, girl. This just isn't our event."

Next was Astrid, who managed to do splendid, except for the last minute as Stormfly hit a hurdle with her horn.

Then came the twins, who passed under the first one but mixed up in the second as their necks got caught. Tuffnut and Ruffnut flew through the air and ended upside down, in front of the audience.

After them, was Ahti. However, Oak's wings were two big, and when they finished the event, they discovered some of the hurdles were slashed in half by what it seem claw marks. Turned out, Oak cut the hurdles while flying, so they had to put new ones.

"Come on, girl." I encouraged my dragon as it came our turn. Thanks the gods Thora was same size as Toothless, so she could fly under the hurdles with ease. I bent my body against her back and we ended the event without problem.

"Annabelle manages to do a perfect score!" Mulch said, and I cheered as Thora did some laps in the air, and then we landed next to the Dragon Riders. I high-fived with Astrid and Ahti.

 **"That was awesome! I would like to try that again!"** Thora warbled. I chuckled and patted her side.

"Later, honey."

"Check it out!" Fishlegs exclaimed, pointing to the scoreboard. "You're tied with Snotlout!"

My eyes widened as I turned back to the scoreboard. I saw Bucket painting a third blue line besides my picture.

"Wow, that's... I-I don't know what to say."

"How does it feels like to be so close to winning?" Ruff asked.

"I-I don't know." I stuttered. "I wasn't actually thinking about winning..." In fact, I had completely forgot it, really! I was having so much fun on the past events, that it didn't matter the score to me anymore. At first I so totally wanted to beat up the Jorgenson mutton head and to erase that cocky smirk off his lips from the face of Earth, but now... I just didn't feel like it.

~ _Wow, such dark thoughts at the beginning, but now... You seem more mature..._ ~ Sabrina wiped a tear away. ~ _Aw, they grow up so fast..._ ~

Snotlout looked to Hiccup, oblivious to the fact I was tied with him. "Where's your book, Hiccup? You might want to take notes! Ha ha!" He taunted as they began the challenge. If Snotlout didn't bang his head with every single one of the hurdles, they would had done it great.

"Let's show them how it's done, bud." Hiccup scratched Toothless' head.

 **"Let's do it!"** Toothless roared, as they took off. As they reached the obstacles, Toothless turned upside down and managed to get under them without touching them.

"And Hiccup makes a perfect run, too!"

Bucket painted a blue lined besides Hiccup's picture. Stoick smiled proudly.

"HA, HA, HA! Did you hear what he said? _Perfect!_ " Hiccup yelled, almost throwing sparks from overexcitement. "I-I believe those are my first Thawfest points ever! I just realized something: I like beating Snotlout!" He declared, what made the other riders worry. "I feel taller. Am I taller? Never mind, don't answer that."

I commanded Thora to walk to the back, besides Astrid. "Is he..."

"...gloating?" Fishlegs completed the question, knitting his eyebrows together.

Astrid shrugged, concerned as well. "I'm not sure. I've never actually seen Hiccup gloat."

We all turned to Ahti, who jumped as he found ten pairs of eyes looking at him expectantly, counting the dragons.

"Don't kill me, but I didn't saw the episode." He admitted.

We all gasped in shock, and he stared angrily at us.

"Oh, come on! You guys can't hope for me to possibly know more than 880 minutes, 44 episodes, two seasons, all the way and back! And then to remember them when I saw the series three _years_ ago!" Ahti claimed, folding his arms.

"Whoa... sorry." I apologized.

Snotlout flew next to us. "Don't get too excited. You know what this is?" He raised a finger. "Still the number of wins I need to end this thing. And you what this is?" He raised a second finger. "The number of chances I have."

"Oh, yeah? Well, you know what this is?" Hiccup said back, raising his hand and at first sight it seemed like he was holding three fingers. "The size of your brain." He said, and then my attention was attracted to the circle he was doing with his index finger and his thumb. "No! Wait..." He shrank the space between his fingers. "That's much better."

"Like you've ever seen my brain." Snotlout glared at him. "Come on, Hookfang."

As they disappeared from sight, we all looked weirdly at Hiccup, who only raised his eyebrows.

"What? He started it..." He pointed after the pair. "When we were five..."

"Next we have the Free-Style event! Contestants and their dragons show off their style and abilities!" Mulch told the audience.

The event started with the twins, Tuff had his feet on Barf's and Belch's necks each one, while Ruffnut stood on her brother's shoulders.

"Check this out!" She yelled.

"We call it 'The Iron Split'!" Tuffnut named. Ruff balanced herself on one foot, standing on Tuff's shoulder. Barf and Belch separated their necks slowly, but Tuffnut's legs spread apart and he ended with an unplanned and painful split. My friends and I winced while Tuffnut groaned in pain, placing one of his hands in between his legs.

The judges selected for this event showed their rating on a piece of paper, in total giving the twins two points out of nine.

"Someone help Tuff get down." I moaned, covering my eyes with my hand.

"And get him a block of ice." Ahti added.

After that issue, it was Fishlegs and Meatlug's turn. They flew all over the arena in circles, speeding up with each minute.

"We like to call this next feat of daring... 'The Extreme Butterfly'!" Fishlegs announced, but Meatlug got out of control and they crashed with a wall. Fishlegs looked at her. "It's okay, girl. This just isn't our event either."

Then, Astrid showed us all kind of acrobatics she knew, without falling off Stormfly. The judges were so impressed they gave her a seven out of nine points. Now, that would be hard to compete against.

"Impressive, Astrid." I complemented, as she smiled to me. "Very good job."

"Thanks."

"Ann, your turn." Ahti said.

"Wish me luck." I said as Thora and I walked to the center of the arena.

I mounted on her back and we flew to the air. Thankfully, I got my bow and quiver for this event. I locked an arrow on the string as some Vikings held ropes, which were attached to targets I was supposed to shoot at. The point of this was, they could move around, so this would increase the level of difficulty. Thora flew around the arena as I shot target after target, hitting the center almost every time. Then we stopped in mid air, as tall wooden ring stood in the center of the arena. I got an arrow out of the quiver, and held it at Thora's eye level.

"Can you make the honors?" I asked, as she chirped in content and lighted up the end of the arrow. I aimed at the ring, breathed in and out, and fired. The arrow flew straight through the ring, which caught up in flames. With that we ended the challenge.

I blinked when the judges gave me an eight out of nine. _So close!_

"That's my girl!" I said, and Thora replied licking my face, which made me laugh and gag at the same time. "Thora, you know it doesn't wash out!" I cried.

After me, Ahti went next. For this, he used a lot of food and he placed fifteen wooden sticks on the top of fifteen barrels, which were aligned one with each other. He threw the food in the air, and Oak either slashed it in half or burned it. All I know, was that I saw a live version of 'Fruit Ninja'. At the end, there were ten food skewers with roasted meat, cooked fish, sliced fruit and roasted chicken.

He got nine out of nine.

As Bucket painted a line besides Ahti's picture, my friend got all the skewers in a tray and offered one to each of the judges. Then he walked over to the riders and we all congratulated him while getting a skewer.

"Mmm-hmm! This is how a victory tastes!" I said, enjoying each bit of mine.

He placed a hand on his chest and bowed, while walking towards the chief and Gobber, offering them the last skewers, who took them gladly.

After this delicious meal, it was Hiccup's and Toothless turn. They took to the sky and out of the arena, as they flew straight to a sea-stack. At the last minute, they pulled up, did some aerobatics over it and flew back. "Yeah, baby!" Hiccup yelled at the top of his lungs.

Surprisingly, he got nine out of nine, too.

"I heard Snotlout's gonna try a trick called 'The Rings of Deadly Fire'. No one's ever tried it before." Tuffnut said.

"Yeah! Because it's too dangerous." Ruff said.

"No! Because he just made it up!"

Uh-oh. I smell catastrophe.

~ _You're sure it's not your breath?_ ~

Hey!

Snotlout muttered to himself before they took in the air. They did a turn in the sky before coming back again and flying towards three huge wooden rings.

"Fire!" Snotlout commanded, and Hookfang did as told. But as they reached them, something happened that made Hookfang retreat and stop abruptly, making Snotlout fly off his saddle and bounce on the rings, before meeting the floor. He screamed and ran to a tub with water when he realized his butt was on fire, and jumped into it. The village laughed at the sight, while Spitelout held his head in frustration.

"I get the rings and the fire part... but where's the death?" Tuff asked to no one. "I feel cheated."

Next thing I knew, Snotlout was staring at the scoreboard with worry.

"Oh, Snotlout, your dad looks pretty mad right now." Hiccup said with a smirk, making me frown once more. I watched as they snapped comments against each other, at the end Snotlout leaved fuming and growling in frustration.

"What was that all about?" Astrid asked, as astounded as I was.

"Just rattling cages." He replied casually, but also with certain air of 'something you wouldn't understand'.

Hiccup was really worrying me. In just a couple of hours, he had changed a lot. He went from being passive to even mock Snotlout when he was loosing. He wasn't like this, I knew the real Hiccup. What was happening to him?

The last event of the games came faster than I expected. It was time for the Fly-and-Shoot, where we had to shoot down our foes and spare our friends. Fishlegs managed to shoot down two Outcasts, Ahti and the twins three, Astrid and I four, and Hiccup five.

But when it was Snotlout's turn, Hookfang just managed to hit one single Outcast, and then he went out of control, firing everything else. The only ones cheering for him were the twins.

Once he managed to get down, we checked the scoreboard which hadn't changed much. Snotlout had three points, Astrid two, the twins zero, Fishlegs zero, Ahti two, I had three and Hiccup had three as well.

"And for the first time in Thawfest history, we have a tie!" Mulch shouted cheerfully as Snotlout, Hiccup and I stood on a platform. "Tomorrow, these three young Vikings will go head-to-head in an event to decide the Thawfest Champion!"

We all waved to the audience as we walked downstairs.

"I can't believe how lucky you are." Snotlout said to us in a low voice. "You don't even belong on this stage with me."

"That's it. Keep talking, Snotlout," Hiccup said. "As your family's winning streak goes up in smoke, just like your Rings of Deadly Fire."

Snotlout turned to him and clenched his fists in fury, before storming out of the arena, kicking a bucket in the process. I looked back to Hiccup, who was grinning maliciously.

"Hey, what's the matter? Yak got your tongue?" He called after Snotlout.

"Hiccup!" Astrid scolded him.

"Oh, he's crumbling under the pressure. I can feel it." He said darkly, until he saw the look Astrid was giving him. "What?"

"You know what I always liked about you, Hiccup?" She asked sadly. "You were always a gracious loser. Who knew you'd be such a lousy winner." She said at last, before walking away, missing the questioning look Hiccup gave her. Then he looked at me. I opened my mouth to say something but he either ignored me or didn't see me and turned away, walking out of the arena with Toothless by his side.

 _At night..._

I wanted to talk to Hiccup about what happened earlier in the arena. Maybe he would listen to reason if I talked to him. I found him on the forge talking to himself while working on something. What was he doing up this late?

"Lousy winner... I'll be a great winner!" I heard him say. I hid behind a wall, watching him talk to Toothless. "See this, bud? Lighter. Thinner. Ooh, this will help us fly faster and turn quicker."

 **"Hiccup."** Toothless growled trying to call his rider's attention, but Hiccup was distracted in his thoughts.

"I also stripped down your saddle. Light as a feather." He added. "But this!" He showed Toothless a new fake tail fin, making me narrow my eyes. "This is what's gonna make the most difference." He walked with the tail to replace Toothless' old tail.

 **"Hiccup..."** Toothless growled a warning, noticing the change of behavior in his rider. But he was oblivious to this as well, it seemed.

"A tail as thin as paper and even stronger than before. We're gonna be able to cut and turn better than we ever have. Snotlout won't have a chance."

Toothless stopped and looked curiously at him. **"What about Annabelle?"** He asked, but since Hiccup couldn't speak Dragonese, he couldn't understand what he said. Most of the times actually, because some times he actually understood him.

I walked out of my hiding place casually, as if I just arrived. "Hey," I called him. Toothless perked up at the sound of my voice, surprised to see me. Hiccup turned around as well. "What are you doing up so late?" I asked curiously, placing my hands behind my back and bending my body a bit to the right, as if I was trying to look over his shoulder.

"Just making sure Toothless' tail fin is alright, checking the mechanism..." He said with a shrug, giving a small 'assuring' smile telling me that everything was fine.

"I see..." I nodded, and then I turned around and pretended to notice Toothless's old tail fin, which was resting on a desk. "Is that Toothless' tail fin?"

"Wait, no, that's—"

It was too late, I had it already in my hands. I stared at it in real disbelief, it was really happening. He tensed up the moment we locked eyes. I felt a knot in my throat rising.

"Hiccup." My voice broke. I gulped, trying to breathe normally. "What... what did you do?"

"I... I was just... It's... Oh Gods..." Then he finally gave up. "Okay, fine! I was testing out a new tail for Toothless! Happy now? Is that what you wanted to hear?!"

"But why? Hiccup, that's cheating!"

"It's not!"

"It is, in a way!" I said. "I mean, would you think about it for a second? Toothless is the fastest dragon from the three, you're the most experienced rider, if not the best of all of us. On top of that, you built a tail fin which will make you fly faster than you ever did before, and you say that's not cheating?!"

"I was just using my _resources,_ thank you very much!" He shot back. "Besides, don't you wanna beat Snotlout? Don't you wanna win?"

"What's the prize, then?" I spat. "Tell me, Hiccup! Is it the satisfaction you'll feel when you see him crying on a corner? Or the feeling on your gut that you won, playing dirty? What's the point?"

"The point is, the winner takes it all! I have the perfect chance of beating him up, to stand up for myself and to teach him a lesson! Just like you said, I'm the best at this, and with Toothless, I'll be unstoppable. There will be no limits! I want to make my father proud!"

"This isn't the way, Hiccup!" I realized we were yelling, so I took some seconds to quiet down and look at him more calmly. "...I know you, and I know this isn't you. I assume you're just caught in the moment, so I hope you change your mind about this before the games."

With that I turned around and walked away, placing a hand on my mouth to quiet my sobs, while I walked to my house. I slammed the door, and leaned my weight against it, thinking about all the horribly things I said out there.

Without me noticing, my hand reached for my necklace and my fingers wrapped around the tiny blue shell, looking for the familiar warmth I had felt the past days.

I wished I could take back the majority of my words, but now it was too late. They were already said and they had stung like viper's venom.

* * *

The next morning, we were at the Academy an hour before the challenge began. While we waited, I watched as Stoick walked to Hiccup and simply tell him there wasn't any pressure, while Spitelout walked to Snotlout, threatening him to don't be the first Jorgenson in the family to lose the Thawfest Games.

Watching the last pair, made me feel bad for them. Both. Because all could Snotlout be thinking was to win the games so his father would be proud of him. Now, I hated him when he was mean with the other riders, but to see the other side of the coin was shocking. I couldn't help myself, but to think of what could I do at the moment to help him.

"Welcome to the final deciding event of this year's Thawfest Games. The Obstacle Course Race!" Mulch announced with excitement, but I didn't feel happy about it anymore. It felt as something I was forced to do, not something I deserved. "Take it away, Gobber!"

"The race will start here in the stadium, where, after the Log-Dodge, and the Cliff-Climb, Hiccup, Snotlout and Annabelle will get on their dragons, loop around the flagship anchored off the coast, slam through the sea-stack maze, then head back here! The first one to pass that finish line is the winner!" Gobber explained, and the Vikings started cheering. "Look at those goosebumps!" He said, staring at his arm.

"Hey, uh, can I talk to you for a second?" Hiccup asked Snotlout.

"No!" He replied, warming up for the competition.

"Okay... uh... I just wanted to say, have a good race and... may the best Viking win." Hiccup said, offering a hand-shake.

Snotlout only rolled his eyes. "Oh, he will. Don't you worry your scrawny-little-self about that." He walked away. "See you at the finish line, Hiccup. Or, maybe I won't."

"Alright. I tried. If that's how you want it."

"That's exactly how I want it!" Snotlout yelled, pointing. Then he turned around, missing Hiccup's evil smirk. But I didn't. With a sigh, I walked to the line as Mulch indicated.

"On your mark..." Mulch said, and I knelt down. "Get set..." I caught a glance of Hiccup and Snotlout glaring at each other. I just shook my head and sighed again. "...and GO!"

We dashed to the ramp, but in the process Snotlout pushed Hiccup to the side. As we got to the logs, I almost got smashed between them and Snotlout, who was running as if his life depended on it. After a minute, I managed to get to the other side safe and then it came the complicated part, climbing to the top of a sea stack where our dragons were waiting for us, without any equipment at all. Now, that would take me forever, but I couldn't just stand still and do nothing. I took a deep breathe and started climbing.

I realized it was just like one of that games for kids where you got to climb fake walls with fake stones of different colors, back home. Sometimes it was easy, other times not so much. And suddenly, there were rocks falling from up above! I looked up and found some Vikings, throwing rocks to our faces. I almost slipped once as I dodged them, but I miraculously managed to hold on with my other hand and I continued, trying not to look down. Otherwise, I would get dizzy and let go, which wasn't a very good idea.

Sadly, Snotlout was way ahead. As I got to the top where Toothless and Thora were waiting, I looked down for Hiccup. One of the rocks almost hit him and he let go. My heart skipped a beat.

"Hiccup!" I cried.

Thankfully, he managed to use his fake leg to stop his fall as he gripped the side of the stack. I sighed in relief, and then I ran to my dragon.

"Good luck!" I told Toothless.

 **"You too!** " He nodded, and we took off.

"Okay girl, let's see how fast you can go!"

 **"Hold on tight!"** She warned, before she sped up. In a matter of seconds we were hot in Hookfang's talons. And then, I heard the familiar sound of the Night Fury. I gritted my teeth and gripped the saddle tighter.

At the distance, we could see the flagship. We turned around in a tight arch and when we flew back, I saw Hiccup and Toothless already coming. They were really close even when Hiccup was the last to get to his dragon.

"Remember girl, it doesn't matter how this thing ends, what it matters is to do it together, okay?" I told my dragon.

 **"About time! I was waiting for you to say that!"** She roared and I eye widened, before a smile appeared on my lips. I scratched her neck.

"Well, that being said... let's go!"

Soon, we were flying through the sea-stack maze Gobber mentioned earlier. And boy, was it a maze. Sea stacks appeared out of the blue, and just when I thought it was over, more appeared. We had to fly in zig-zag constantly, which it wasn't very good for my poor stomach. And then, we all got to the same tunnel. However, I was in first place, which was unexpected. In second was Snotlout, followed by Hiccup.

"Move over!" Hiccup suddenly shouted.

"Yeah, sure!" Snotlout shouted back.

"Thora, up!" I commanded.

She did as told, doing a loop in the air and ending behind Toothless, who managed to fly side to side with Hookfang. Because of the space, they were bumping against the stone walls, until they noticed the huge sea stack in the middle of the path. They flew in different directions and we followed Snotlout, but Hiccup had to go the long way around.

For two minutes, it seemed the race was only between me and Snotlout, but the moment off-tension was short lived when Toothless flew past us, just behind Snotlout and Hookfang.

"Okay bud, let's finish this!" Hiccup said, clicking the pedal and speeding up.

"Hiccup, don't!" I tried in vain. The two riders and their dragons were way ahead of us.

Of a sudden, when it seemed Hiccup was going at the head, Toothless lost his balance and they were forced to land. We paused in mid-air to make sure they were alright and flew down next to them. Hiccup was on the back of his dragon, his head low and his eyes closed. Thora walked closer to them.

"Hiccup?" I called.

He snapped his head up and looked at me in surprise. "Annabelle, what are you doing here?" Now the dragons were side to side.

I tilted my head to the side, with a small grin. He had done to me that question so much times I had lost count. "I know what you did up there. You threw the race." I replied. He blinked, and I just chuckled, holding his hand. "That's the Hiccup I know."

He looked down, and then looked up again, nervously. "Anna... Yesterday, when I was... When you said..."

He was cut off when I wrapped my arms around his neck. He tensed up for a moment, before I let go. He was frozen in place.

"Don't mind about it, I forgive you."

Just as I finished the sentence, a sudden force made my head jerk backwards and close my eyes. It took me two seconds to realize Hiccup was kissing me, and for a reason, I kissed him back, placing a hand on the back of his head.

A little while later, we knew that if we didn't come back the village would start making questions like where did we go, so we had to return. Even if we had lost, we were received by cheering from the audience.

We dismounted our dragons and walked up to meet the chief and Snotlout. "It's been a spectacular Thawfest Games!" Stoick began, once all the contestants were there. "Perhaps the best ever. These young men and woman have put on quite a show. But alas, there can be only one champion." Some Vikings started making the drumroll. "The Thawfest dynasty continues. The winner, and still champion, Snotlout!"

"We did it!" Snotlout yelled, and actually, it felt good now that there was quite an actual fight for the metal. Speaking of which, Stoick gave Snotlout.

"You did your family proud." He said, and then turned to his son. It seemed the comment was more to Hiccup than anyone else.

As Snotlout started chanting, Ahti and Astrid joined us, and the latter punched Hiccup in the arm. I just rolled my eyes, nothing unusual here.

"Ow! What?"

"We know what you did." She said.

"Yeah, I lost. As usual."

She shook her head. "No. You threw the race."

Hiccup raised his both eyebrows and turned to Ahti, who crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "I-I have no idea what you're talking about. Snotlout was just the better Viking today."

"No, Hiccup. No one was a better Viking than you, today." Ahti said, elbowing him. "But if you ever do something like that again, I will personally make sure you don't have dinner for a week!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "You sound like my mother."

We all laughed. And then, just when we thought it was over, Stoick made an announcement.

"Lastly, this particular occasion I would also like to give an acknowledgment to all the participants of the Thawfest Games!"

My friends gasped, as the chief walked to each of us and gave us a silver metal, obviously smaller and less shiny than Snotlout's, but hey, a metal's a metal, right? Believe me when I say the teens looked like they just got a present from the Gods.

Finally, imagine my surprise when as all of us waved to the crowd, Hiccup absentmindedly took my hand, making me blush as deep as a tomato. We crossed stares, and shared a smile, while Sabrina sighed dreamily in my head.

* * *

 ***A brief mention of people who ship HiccupxToothless, like me :) the majority of times Fem!HiccupxToothless.**

 **HAPPY HALLOWEEN, my dear readers! Extra long chapter, +8500 words! Thanks for the patience guys, you're amazing!**

 **So... If anyone wanted to know, I'm a very big fan of the Big Four AND the Big Six, and when I saw this episode of HTTYD I realized somehow the creators make unintentional crossovers of the movies and the series. They might do it unintentionally, but we know better... ;)**

 **So... does anyone happened to notice the sun on the banners from the Thawfest is way too similar to the sun from Rapunzel's banner? Crossover number one there. Crossover number two, (I think plenty of people have noticed this already) in the movie Gobber mentions trolls exist, and guess which movie involves them sing a song? Frozen, ladies and gentlemen! Crossover number three, one of the episodes in DoB it's actually called Frozen.**

 **Want one more crossover? How about two** **? Number four, the book Elsa's dad opens is written in Norse. The Book of dragons is written in Norse. And last but not least, number five, in Brave when the suitors arrive, one of the clans makes a mention of beating up the VIKINGS.**

 **Ta da! There you go! Wow, that took me more time to write than I thought. So, follow and fav, reviews are always appreciated and if we make it to the 50 reviews, wait for a second chapter next week! (Sorry, I'm having exams this week). Hope you enjoyed it! UNT...**

 **Scout017, out.**


	13. When Lightning Strikes

He felt like he had been flying for days... which actually, that was the case. Well, more like hop-skip-run-fly no matter wherever he went. He rested on a branch of a tree to catch his breath, since he had been searching through the entire archipelago for almost three weeks and so far had very little progress. He sat down and leaned his back on the trunk of a pine tree, as frost spread all over it. He breathed in and out, trying to have some rest. He needed a break.

But it seemed he wouldn't have it, as he suddenly felt his hand heating up. He raised his fist, and there was a glow so intense he had to look away. He groaned.

"You've gotta be kidding me."

He waited for the light to die, but it wouldn't even flicker. It was as stubborn as a Gronkle, which he was reminded, were super territorial. He had learned it the hard way. He still had some scorch marks on his cloak.

Since the annoying fluorescent light didn't seem to die even just a little, he knew he had no other choice but continue his search. With a heavy sigh, he gripped his staff and stood on the branch. He passed a hand though his frosted already messed up hair, took a deep breath, and bolted to the sky again. It was in moments like this when he wondered why did he accept to be part of all this in the first place. Then he remembered, in fact he had _volunteered_. He kicked himself for that.

"Those guys owe me _big_ time." He said out loud. "And I thought getting into North's workshop was hard..."

* * *

I climbed the way upstairs to Hiccup's room dragging my soul, barely able to walk. I couldn't get how neither of the men downstairs were not tired after we had been working all the day, building dragon perches. Since dragons were living among us, the houses were going down under their weight. More like, the dragons loved to land on the roofs, and because of them... well, here we are.

Hiccup didn't mind me to sleep at his room for a while, so I lay on his bed, while Thora slept on the floor besides it, "to watch over me" she said. I loved how she was overprotective at me; she followed me wherever I went, and always was cheering me up when I felt sad. She was like my guardian angel.

When I managed to get some sleep, I was woken up again when I felt someone breathing on my face. I opened my eyelids and saw Toothless looking at me. I smiled and placed a hand on his snout.

"Hey Toothless." I said, still a bit groggy. He whined and nuzzled me with his head, and I frowned at his actions. "Is everything okay, boy?" I asked.

Suddenly, a loud sound startled the both of us and he ran to a corner of the room, making himself a small ball and covered his body with his wings, as of trying to hide from view.

I rubbed my eyes and yawned, before standing up and walking to him. "Toothless, what's wrong?" I asked.

 _ **"I don't like lightning."**_ A muffled voice came from the black mass in front of me.

It was interesting. The unholy offspring of lighting and death itself was afraid of lightning? Who would have imagined such thing? Well, it wasn't as if the Book of Dragons said much of Night Furies.

Thora walked up to Toothless and nudged his tail. Toothless lifted up a wing and locked eyes with her. She curled down beside him and licked him, before lying her head down. Toothless nudged her gently, and he lay his head on top of hers, as both dragons slept peacefully. It brought a smile to my lips to watch such thing. So far, we knew the Night Fury was the only one of his kind and Thora was pretty much the same, since we haven't seen around another Shockjaw. It was very sad to think they were species at the verge of extinction, but it warmed my heart to see how they were towards each other.

 _RUMBLE!_

I jumped a meter high in the air as the sound was there again. Although I knew it was just the lightning, never in my life heard it so closely. I could swore the earth shook as the lighting struck the ground. Toothless whined as he shrank himself even smaller. I walked downstairs — _climbed_ them would be more accurate— and it wasn't long before the dragons followed me. I noticed the door was open and when ran outside I gasped at the sight.

Lightning was falling down on each of the houses, setting them on fire. People were running away in fright, looking for cover. That's when I spotted Hiccup, Stoick and Gobber not far away. I ran to Hiccup's side as Gobber and Stoick split up.

"Good evening." I said awkwardly. He snapped his head at me as he just became aware of my presence. "So, this is how you celebrate?"

"Not usually, at least." He answered, worry written all over his face. Out of nowhere, lightning struck just ten feet away from us and the ground shook. As we tried to keep our balance, Toothless roared in fear before running off. "Toothless!" Hiccup yelled. In two seconds, he was out of sight. "We need to follow him! He could get hurt!"

A roar made us turn around and we saw Thora waiting for us. **"Come on! He is not so far!"** She said as we ran to her and Hiccup mounted behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist so he wouldn't fall off. We flew towards the Hall, where we found the rest of the Riders.

"I've always like Thor." Ruffnut sighed dreamily, making me blink.

"Wait, are you saying Thor is the one who's causing all of this?" I asked incredulous.

"Well, duh, who else can control the weather and do a thunderstorm like this?" Snotlout said.

I shook my head in disbelief. From what I had seen in the movies, Thor knew way better than to do something like this. He wouldn't just attack the village for no reason, unless we had something he wanted or he was just mad and trying to release his anger at us, but it still made no sense. Maybe the young Asgardian God would had done something like this when he was in his twenties, but he was a full-grown man, er, God now. One would expect such behavior from his brother, Loki, but certainly not him.

"Have you seen Toothless?" Hiccup asked.

"Over there!" Ahti pointed to the nearest dragon perch, and there we saw the Night Fury, just as he flew off before lightning struck where he was seconds ago.

"Toothless!" Hiccup called, but he was already gone.

"Did you see that?" A familiar voice said and I held back a groan. He had to show up in the worst moments, as if things were pretty bad already.

"Really?" I moaned as I turned to the one who spoke and sure enough, there was Mildew and his loyal lad, Fungus.

Then we watched as Toothless jumped from perch to perch to avoid being struck, and people started to believe Thor was angry at the Night Fury because he was the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. I gaped offended, that was not true and all of the riders knew it! Mildew was just trying to get the dragons away from the island, _again_. And once again, we hac to stop all of this nonsense before it became worse.

"Thor is angry at us because of the Night Fury. You all saw it!" Mildew claimed.

"What?! No! This is ridiculous!" Hiccup said.

"The only way to end this is to get rid of the dragon!" Mildew ignored him.

"Do we seriously have to go over this again?" I said as I made my way between the men. They turned towards me and it slightly made me feel uneasy, until I felt a cold wind blow through my hair and for some reason it made me feel confident. I turned towards the people of Berk. "You guys know the dragons are no danger or threat, so why should Thor be angry at Toothless? Shouldn't he be angry at all of them if it was the case? Stop building up rumors and scaring people the living daylights out of them!"

The last sentence I said it looking at Mildew in the eye. If possible, more wrinkles appeared on the old man's forehead. "Well, then who do you suppose he's angry at?" He snarled.

"Do I look like a diviner to you?" I snapped. "I don't presume to know anyone's mind, much less Thor's. But we will find a way to soothe his anger."

"I hope you are right, _lassie_. Because I know sooner or later, people will listen to reason and that Night Fury will be banished from the face of earth."

"Over my dead body." I threatened.

* * *

The next morning, all the riders were trying to think of a solution that didn't involve getting rid of Toothless. Thankfully the lightning had stopped, but the clouds where still crashing against one another.

"Another storm is coming." Hiccup noted, as he stroked Toothless gently to calm him down.

"Thor tore a hole in the Great Hall." Tuff commented sitting in the Hall's stairs besides Ruff. "Maybe he's hungry? I know I am."

"We need to make Thor happy. But what do you get the God of Thunder and Lightning?"

"In the past, I know Thor's enjoyed a sacrifice or two." Fishlegs said.

"Sacrifice?" I asked. "Is there a way less... Sadist?"

"I had an aunt who was cursed by Odin once." Astrid said. "She had to pay tribute to him by sailing to the end of the Earth."

"Did it work?"

"I don't know. I guess she couldn't find it, because she kept showing up from the opposite direction."

Ahti and I shared a look. _Maybe she did after all_.

"The Gods have never been mad at anyone from our family." Fishlegs continued as he bent to knock over some wooden steps from a house. "Knock on wood. Hop on one foot." He hoped on one foot way to Snotlout. "Slap a Jorgenson."

He raised a hand to slap him, but instead poked him with a finger, giggling. Snotlout just pushed him aside.

"If I were Thor, I would want a giant statue." Snotlout said as he stood on Hookfang's about and the Monstrous Nightmare lifted his head. "Of myself, Snotlout, as Thor!"

Astrid deadpanned. "You do know we're trying to make him happy?"

"Exactly!" He flexed his arms and kissed them, as I felt my lunch make its way backwards and I had to cover my mouth to not spill it over.

"I think I just threw up in my mouth." I said, disgustedly.

"Me too." Astrid agreed, pressing a hand against her stomach.

Hiccup looked to the ground, deep in thought and then looked at us. "Actually, that's not a bad idea."

"It's not an idea, it's a reflex."

"What... No! I-I mean the statue."

Astrid practically slapped her mouth and shut her eyes. "There I go again."

Hiccup shook his head. "No! Not Snotlout, Thor!"

Fishlegs placed a hand under his chin and 'hmmm-ed.' "Berk has never given Thor a statue."

"Well, then it's high time we did!" Hiccup stated, gaining nods from all of us.

 _Later..._

For hours, we worked on building a giant metal statue of Thor, hoping that it would make the God of Thunder happy for once and for all, though the clouds in the sky said otherwise. Snotlout did the knees, Fishlegs did the pants, Astrid did his torso, the twins did his arms, I did his head, and Ahti did his hammer.

"Okay, guys, we better start welding these pieces together." Hiccup said when we had all of them ready. The sooner we got this right, the better.

When we had it done, we covered it with a lot of blankets sewed together. We gathered the village in the plaza, and after an awkward introduction from Hiccup, we showed the statue to everyone. Thor held up a hand and in the other he raised his hammer, watching over everything fiercely. Everyone "ooh-ed" in amazement, and I had to admit we did a very good work.

"Well done!" Stoick congratulated us. "Thor will appreciate this tribute, and will smile upon us once again!"

"You really think this is enough to appease the mighty Thor, while you allow a Night Fury in your midst?!" Mildew exclaimed, apparently you can never please that old man. "You're fools! All of ya!"

 _At night..._

I couldn't find Thora anywhere since the afternoon. I have looked everywhere, in the Hall, in the forge, in the stables, she was nowhere to be found. I opened the door of my house and gasped when I saw even more lightning than last night.

"Oh boy." I moaned. I took a deep breathe and made a dash from my house to Hiccup's and almost got struck by lightning twice. By the time I arrived I was panting, resting my hands on my knees. I knocked on the door and Stoick opened up.

"Anna?"

"You've got to see this." I said pointing with my thumb behind me. Stoick got aside so I could get in and he gasped when he noticed. Hiccup and Gobber walked to the entrance and gasped at the sight too.

"Unbelievable. Even more lightning than the last storm." Hiccup said in disbelief.

"Ah don't understand. We gave Thor a giant statue!" Gobber exclaimed, before closing the door. I sat on a chair trying to catch my breath.

"It was a gallant effort, son, but it looks as though this is not what Thor wanted." Stoick said.

It was then when Gobber realized he was standing too close to Toothless and gave a step away, gaining glares from the rest of us save for Stoick.

"Gobber, what are you doing?" Hiccup demanded.

"I love Toothless, Ah'm just errin' on the side of caution." Gobber clarified with a sheepish smile.

 **"Yeah, right."** Toothless crooned sadly. **"Thanks for the vote of trust."**

"Don't worry, bud." Hiccup told his dragon, petting the sides of his head. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you. No matter what some people think!" He said the last glaring at Gobber, who only shrugged and gave an awkward smile.

"Guys, have any of you seen Thora?" I asked hopefully.

"What?" Hiccup asked. "I thought she was with you."

I shook my head in worry. "No, I mean, she was with me this morning, but since we built the statue and returned our homes I haven't seen her." I crossed my arms and looked at the fireplace, deep in thought. "I'm worried about her."

Hiccup placed a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sure she's okay, she can take care of herself, she's smart like her rider. She'll come back, you just have to wait."

I smiled at him and squeezed his hand. He returned the smile. "Thanks, Hic."

 _RUMBLE!_

Hiccup jumped a meter high in the air, causing me to snort. I quickly covered my mouth, but then I started chuckling, and eventually Hiccup too. It turned into a giggle, and soon we both bursted out laughing loudly. It reached the point we both were gasping for breath. When we calmed down, I was less stressed out. Hiccup did know how to make me feel better, even if it was unintentionally.

However, the moment of peace was short-lived when we heard yelling and someone knocked on the door loudly.

"Open up, Stoick! We've come for the Night Fury!" Mildew's voice was heard from outside, making Hiccup and I share a worried look.

"D-Dad, you don't think Thor's angry at Toothless... Do you?"

"Of course I don't, but I'm afraid they do. You and Anna get Toothless to a safe place, I'll try to reason with them." He turned around and walked towards the door, but he was stopped when he felt a hand on his forearm. It was Hiccup.

"But..."

"Just go." Stoick placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder. Hiccup single nodded his father and gestured Toothless to follow him. I looked sadly at Stoick one last time, before I ran behind them.

We got out through the window from the second floor and hid behind the house. I looked over it and saw Mildew leading a crowd of angry Vikings, all of them asking Stoick to give them the Night Fury. Hiccup sighed and looked at Toothless in the eye.

"Don't worry, bud. You've got us." He assured his dragon.

"Hiccup's right, Toothless. We know the truth, and as long as we do, nothing can happen to you." I told him, and he nudged me with his head. I scratched his scales and looked at Hiccup. "We need to find Thora. And fast."

He nodded and we ran away. I looked around everywhere looking for my dragon, but I was starting to suspect she wasn't even in the island anymore. What I didn't get was why whould she leave of a sudden, without even telling me what she was doing or when will she be back. I feared something happened to her, something I would be too late when I found her.

In the way, we found Astrid and told her what had happened. She suggested to hide Toothless in the cove, there was a possibility Thora would be there. However, Hiccup had other ideas.

"No, they'll just find him." Hiccup said, before looking at her. "We have to leave."

Astrid blinked at the response and frowned. "'We?'"

"He can't make it on his own. And I wouldn't want him to. I'm going with him, Astrid."

I hugged Astrid. "I'm gonna miss you." I told her, but suddenly Hiccup turned towards me.

"Annabelle, you can't come with us."

I eye widened in shock. "What?! Wait, you mean you are leaving with Toothless, alone?"

Hiccup gave me his back and bent his head. "It's for the best. I wouldn't want you to risk your life for us, I don't want to put you in danger as well."

"But... No, you can't leave... Leave me... Not you too..." One of my hands wrapped its fingers around my necklace, and gripped it tightly. "Please, no..."

He didn't say anything else. He just hopped on the back of Toothless, still with his head down.

"But you'll come back, right?" Astrid asked. Hiccup turned to her.

"Yeah, eventually. When they all realize this didn't happen because of Toothless." He gave a weak smile, and just then we heard the shouts of the villagers getting closer. They were heading this way. My heart started racing, knowing fully well they needed to leave. But it was so hard to let go...

Before I knew it, I was embracing Hiccup in a tight hug. He returned the hug, burying his head against my hair and breathing in its scent. I buried my head into his shoulder and a few tears spilled over my cheeks. Then he gave me a soft kiss, before he helped me get back on the ground and they flew away. Astrid and I watched them get out of sight before we turned around and faced the crowd.

"Where's the boy?!" Mildew demanded. "And more importantly, where's the dragon?!"

Stormfly came to our aid, intimidating a few Vikings.

"We don't know, Mildew, but you got your wish. Hiccup and Toothless are gone." Astrid spoke for the both of us. I was so mixed up in my emotions anything would make me explode any second now. Mildew turned to me and I clenched my fists so tight my knuckles turned white. He raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes in suspicion at me, before he threw a hand in the air.

"Bah! Let's go and find the Night Fury!" He yelled, walking away.

As the people leaved, we turned around and stared at the thunderclouds. I slowly touched my lips, remembering what happened minutes ago. I already missed them, nothing would be the same without Hiccup and Toothless.

"Astrid, can you help me find Thora?" I asked after long moments of nostalgic silence. "I can't find her anywhere."

She eye widened. "I just saw her before you came here, by the Great Hall."

I raised my both eyebrows in surprise, before we mounted Stormfly and took off. We arrived quickly, but apparently it was too late. There was no sign of her. I sighed.

"Where did she go?" Astrid wondered.

"I don't know, but we got to find her before something bad happens." I looked around and caught sight of the forest. For some reason, I got a familiar feeling. "Let's go search through the forest. I'll go to the left, you look out the right."

"Alright."

I watched them leave and then I went my own way through the forest. I thought for a moment Thora would be on the cove, but it was just too much to be just a coincidence. I started calling her name, and always got the same answer. Just silence.

"Ow!" I hissed when I felt a pain on my chest, and then I noticed my necklace was glowing brighter than ever before. I started to walk backwards and the bright seem to die down, as the necklace cooled down. Then I walked forwards, and the glow intensified. The necklace was telling me where to go!

I took it off and held it at arm length, using it as a torch in the darkness. I had no idea where I was going, but it wasn't as if I had much of a choice.

Suddenly, I found a place as if taken from a movie. It was a small frozen lake, surrounded by pine trees, where the Moon faced it directly. Little snowflakes started to fly around and the wind blew through my hair. At this moment I regretted not having brought my cloak. I turned around holding my arms, and stood frozen in place as my eyes locked with a pair of ice blue ones.

The person in front of me stood in his place, staring at me with wide eyes. He held in one hand a wooden stick with a 'G' form and he was barefoot. He was wearing brown trousers, and a brown cloak. He had white silver hair and very pale skin. But what caught my attention the most was his silver ring on his hand, the one holding his staff.

"It can't be..." He whispered.

"Sorry, what was that again?" I asked, tilting my head to the side. His eyes went even bigger if possible.

"Can... Can you see me?" He asked bewildered, and I blinked. I have heard that exact same words before.

"Jack Frost...?" I breathed and he gave a step back in the ice.

"You said... You said my name!" He cried, a wide grin slowly spreading across his face. He laughed, and backflipped in the air ending in the top of his staff. I laughed after him, he acted like a child!

"You're real?!"

"Of course!" He jumped off and walked towards me. "Who do you think makes it snow nine months of the year and hail the other three? And remember the day you went looking for the Timberjack?"

"You were there?!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, I was there!"

"I knew it! I knew there was something else that day! I felt it!"

"You felt it?" He repeated.

"Yeah! Well, more like..."

I looked down and stared at my necklace in my hand. He frowned and followed my gaze, before he raised his eyebrows as if he just realized something and showed me his ring. Both of them had almost an identical glow. We put them together, and they created a light so bright we had to look away for a second, before it completely died down. As it did, we touched or stuff to verify they were alright now, and suddenly my vision was filled with white.

Images flashed through my eyes, one after another. In one, I saw a little baby wrapped in white blankets, and it had a name stitched in one of them with thread, handwritten, which read 'Annabelle'. A pale hand caressed the baby, as she slept peacefully.

Another image, the baby was in a cradle, awake, giggling as a teenage boy played with a small stuffed white and fluffy bunny, while he told her a story. Even tough she didn't understood a word, she was smiling widely and clapping as she laughed when the bunny tickled her.

Another one, the same teen —more specifically, Jack— was carrying the same baby on his arms, rocketing her softly from side to side. He had taken off his cloak and he was wearing a white shirt and a brown vest. _"Sleep well, snowflake."_ He told her, as he held the baby closer and kissed her forehead, gently.

I saw many more, before everything faded to black and I realized I had closed my eyes. I moved away my hand and the glow died again. I looked up to stare at Jack, who just opened his eyelids and removed his hand as well.

"What was that?" I said.

"Some sort of... Memories, I think." He answered.

Then I realized, the little baby had my name. That little baby was me! Before I could say something, I heard someone running through the forest.

"Toothless!"

"Hiccup?" I asked, turning around. I looked back at Jack for a moment, before I ran to catch up with him. For a moment I feared Jack had stayed, but to my relief and surprise, he was running behind me. I think after what we saw, we both thought we had to be together. "Hiccup!" I called again.

We passed the trees, and I followed him until the forge. "Hiccup!" He turned around and I hugged him. "You came back! What happened? Where's Toothless?"

Before he could say anything, another voice was heard. "Hiccup!" He looked around and we saw Astrid and the rest of the gang running towards us. "They've got Toothless! They're about to float him off to sea."

"I know. Why do you think I have _this_?" He said as he showed us a metal spear.

The riders shrugged, except for be twins. "Oh, tough one. How many guesses do we get? Five?" Tuffnut said.

"Oooh God.." He grabbed Astrid's arm and dragged her away. "Astrid, fly me to the docks!"

As everyone followed, I stayed behind. "You coming?" I asked Jack, who blinked in surprise, then pointed to himself. I nodded at him, and he thought about it for a second, before giving me a single nod and we followed the others.

When we arrived, Hiccup was already there, explaining the Vikings a theory he had about the lightning striking the metal.

"Just think about it. We never had a lightning storm like this until we put up those perches, that statue, right? And they're all made of metal!"

"Oh, bah! You ever heard of anything so insane?!" Mildew said, but that's when I came in.

"It's not insane!" I yelled as I made my way through them and stood besides Hiccup. "It makes perfect sense! The metal is a conductor of heat and electricity! Lightning is electricity! Anything sharp will attract lightning in a storm, and all we have built the past days is made of metal!"

The people started to mumble between themselves, wondering if what I said was true. I knew it was, why was it so difficult to listen? I bit my inferior lip as I looked around to give an example, and I caught sight of Toothless' tail. I lifted it up, and noticed it was completely destroyed, and there was nothing left than the metal.

"Here. This is where the lighting struck Toothless. On this _metal_ connecting rod! You see?" I lifted it up so everyone could see, but they didn't seem convinced at all. Time to get to drastic methods. "Look, if you don't believe me, I can prove it!" I snatched the spear from Hiccup and hopped on Stormfly.

"Can you fly me up to the mast of the ship, please?"

Astrid nodded. I would have asked Jack to do it, but I wasn't so sure everyone could see him and they would be wondering how in the world I floated up there.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Astrid questioned.

"Sure? I mean, I'm sure of what I'm talking about... But this is really more of a... Hunch." She looked at me with wide eyes. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." I said, before she dropped me off and flew away.

Gobber said something to Stoick I couldn't make out, before the chief called my name.

"Annabelle!"

"You'll all see for yourselves!" Lightning boomed in the sky as I spoke. From the corner of my eye, I saw a little blueish-green spot on the clouds with tail and wings heading this way. "When I attach this metal rod to the top of this mast, the lighting will be drawn to–"

I couldn't finish the sentence. Just as the metal touched the top of the mast the lightning struck it, and since I was helding it, it struck me too. I felt a great pain ran through my whole body, but it was so shocking and so quickly I couldn't even scream. Little by little, I stopped feeling the pain. By the time it ended, I could barely stand. I felt the ground coming to meet me and I gave in, just that instead of feeling my body hit something solid, I kept falling, sucked into darkness like Alice in Wonderland.

* * *

I opened my eyes and stared in shock at my surroundings. I found my cellphone beside me on my bureau. I was lying on my bed with my purple covers and I saw my room walls painted in pink, blue, and white. My computer was on top of my desk.

I was back home.

 _How did I get here?_

I sat up and walked up to my mirror. Strangely enough, I was still wearing my Viking outfit, my hair was combed into the same messy French braid, but my necklace was nowhere to be seen. I looked around my room and searched for it, but I couldn't find it. I looked in my closet, in my pockets, under my bed. Nothing.

 _Where could it be?_

I lifted my head in realization when I heard some familiar voices. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but I knew who they belonged to. I ran out of my room and the murmur became louder, it was coming from downstairs. I ran two at a time and I gasped when I saw my mom, and Dally on the living room. Mom was sat on a sofa, her elbow leaning against the armrest and pressing her forehead against her fingers. Dallas was standing up a few feet away, giving us his back. I couldn't believe it, I was back! I was really back!

"Mom, Dally!" I exclaimed in happiness. My eyebrows knitted together when I realized no one did anything. Did they hear me? "Guys, I'm back!" I said, but they didn't move, as if they couldn't actually hear me. "Mom, is everything alright?" I moved closer to her, and then I caught sight of something that made me gasp.

A tear was running down her cheek. Not one, two... _three!_ She gave a sniff and wipe away the tears… she was _crying!_

"What's wrong?" I asked as I knelt beside her and I saw her free hand resting on her lap, her fingers wrapped onto something, hiding it from view. I tried to hold her hand, but mine went right through hers. I jumped back in shock and looked at my hand with wide eyes. I touched it, it felt normal. Was I a ghost?

"How are we going to tell Lu?" Dallas said of a sudden, and it caught my attention how raspy his voice sounded. But then I wondered, _tell Lu what?_

"We'll have to find a way. Tell her she went to a beautiful place, where she would be happy." Mom said.

My heart started racing. That sounded like something I hoped I was wrong. They were going to tell my sister someone had perished. I feared it was my grandma who died while I was gone… And by the way, why couldn't they hear me? Why could I not touch them? Was this a dream?

Finally, Dallas turned around and my hand flew to my mouth when I saw his red bloodshot eyes and his red nose. His face was dirty and his blonde hair was almost brown from all the dirt it had. His shirt was wet and I could guess it was because of the sweat _. What happened to you?_

A chuckle made me jump. I turned around but found nothing, the laugh echoed in the air.

 _"Look what you've done."_ The voice said, running a chill down my back.

"What in the world…?" I wondered.

 _"Your family… Devastated, heartbroken…"_

I looked around but saw no one else, just the three of us. My mom looked up and she had bloodshot eyes as well. All I knew was that something really bad had happened.

My brother locked eyes with my mother and that was all it took for him to break down. He knelt in the floor and turned his left hand into a fist. He gritted his teeth and shut his eyes, while pressing a hand against them to block his vision.

"It's my f-fault." He choked out, as he sobbed violently and his knuckles turned white.

My mother stood up and knelt down next to Dally, placing a hand on his shoulder, before embracing him into a hug. Dallas hugged her back, tightly, as he sobbed. The emotion brought some water to my eyes as I held my hands close to my chest. I never saw Dally cry before, in real life. The last time he cried, was in a dream.

"No sweetheart, don't say that…" My mother said, as more tears ran down her pink cheeks. "You took care well of her, we didn't know it would happen…" She trailed off.

 _Would happen what?_

"S-she would still b-be here if I was a better b-brother. I should-d have done s-something." My brother cried.

"She's in a better place now." My mother said.

 _She would still be here if I was a better brother._ If they were gonna tell Lucy, it was because she was still here. And Dallas only had two sisters. And they couldn't hear me or see me. I held my breath.

 _Am I… Dead?_

"M-my little sister…" He whispered. "My dear little sister, the most brave girl I knew, the most funny little girl that brightened up my life… The one that reminded me to keep going on and smile to life… Is **gone** …"

As he said that, my mother opened her fist and MY NECKLACE was on her hand, but instead of being blue, it was gray, and it was cracked.

"Maybe _…_ Maybe I should have been a better mother… Anna, I'm so sorry."

 _No… I can't be, i-it isn't true…_

"She d-died in my arms…" Dallas started and my hands flew to my mouth. I stumbled a few steps back before he continued. "I went to her room to take her to have breakfast with the Riders, t-to cheer her up for what had happened in school… I found-d Ahti knelt on her side, h-holding her hand… She was pale, she barely breathed… I t-took her in my arms…" He couldn't go on. They cried in silence after that, hugging each other, on their knees.

"How pathetic…" The voice echoed again, this time it sounded just behind me, but I couldn't move. I tried to scream and to say I was right here, but my mouth was shut. "They thought they could escape from me…" A cold hand grabbed my throat from behind, and the other held my head. "…but here you are."

I felt the nails dig into my skin, causing a great pain that ran through my whole body. I fell to the ground, choking with my own blood, not able to do anything. I reached out my hand at my family, and suddenly they went limp too. I tried to call out their names but nothing escaped my lips except for a dry cough. I spitted blood and gave sharp gasps, trying desperately to breathe.

A hand forced my chin to go up and my eyes locked with two golden rings. A wicked grin crossed his face, showing his white sharp teeth. His skin was gray as ash and his hair was black as night.

"Poor Frost… How heartbroken he'll be, when he finds out he couldn't save you?"

 _Jack, save me_ … _From what?_ I thought, before the darkness overcame me.

* * *

I woke up gasping, as if I was drowning. It took me two seconds to realize I was at home, just not my home. I breathed in and out, and before my mind could register what was going on and what had happened, there were already several people in the room. I was overwhelmed by the amount of hugs I received from Hiccup, Stoick, Ahti, and then I was being licked to death by two dragons. Make that three, if you count Seraphina.

"Thora, you're back!" I exclaimed as I hugged her and she nuzzled me. "Where had you been?"

 **"It's a long story..."**

I raised an eyebrow. "Believe me, we have time."

She basically explained me since she was capable of emitting bio-electricity, every once in a while she needed to recharge, and these thunderstorms were a perfect time to do so. However, during this time she needed to do it in an open field, where there were no trees or any villages to harm or burn. I had a feeling there was something she wasn't telling me, but I was just glad she was safe and sound so I shook it off.

After clearing up that she had scared me to death and that next time she would warn me before disappearing, we went back to the whole near death-experience thing.

"You took a lightning bolt to the head." Stoick explained.

"Just like Barnstat. Except we won't be throwin' yeh off the island." Gobber said. Ahti and I looked at him puzzled. "Nothin' yeh need to worry of."

"Thanks to you, everyone now knows Thor wasn't mad at Toothless." Hiccup said.

"And unfil we figure out why Thor was angry at the metal, we're all walkin' on eggshells." Gobber continued.

"Thor wasn't angry at the metal, guys." I said. "Metal is a strong conductor of heat and electricity. Lightning is a form of electricity and it can be attracted to any kind of metal, specially to sharp objects."

Everyone just stared at me, except for Ahti, who mocked me about paying attention at class.

A little while later after breakfast, we went outside and found some Vikings pulling down Thor's statue.

"Oh, we worked so hard on that statue. Kind of a shame we have to just scrap it for parts." Hiccup commented.

Stoick placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "Well, maybe we don't have to. Why don't you take it to one of the high points on the island and leave it there?" He suggested.

"Good idea, Chief!" Tuffnut agreed, as he and Snotlout walked down the stairs towards their dragons. "I would've thought of it myself, but I'm not the chief."

"Oh, we'll handle that for you." Snotlout said, as Hookfang, Barf and Belch lifted the statue away. Hiccup mounted Toothless and went with them, and I wondered what did they had in mind.

As I watched them leave, memories came flooding back to me, and then I gasped when I remembered someone.

"Jack..."

I returned to the house —passing by a lot of Vikings who came with gifts I assumed for Toothless, since most of them were fish— wondering if he was at the room, but I didn't find him there. He was gone, and I never knew when he left or why. And what about the memories we shared?

As I lay down on the bed, I felt something under my pillow. I removed the pillow and gasped in shock when I found a small stuffed bunny, the very same from my memories. My eyes watered as I held the fluffy toy in my hands and held it close to my chest, a small smile forming on my lips.

* * *

 **Chan chan!**

 **HAPPY THANKSGIVING, my dear readers! I hope you like the chapter... At the beginning it was kinda awful when I started writing it and I hope the ending is not too rushed. Now, thank you so much for all the reviews! Some of them left amazing suggestions, and believe me, I'm trying to use them to write the story down. Really, thank you for helping me. Remember, we reach +50 reviews today and I'll update a second chapter later!**

 **Thanks for the patience guys! Here's a free cookie for you, because you're amazing and because I just wanna give it. You deserve it. (::) UNT...**

 **Scout017, out.**


	14. What Flies Beneath

Everybody has a past, from persons to dragons. And sometimes, it can come to haunt you. And when it does, you're gonna need someone to trust, someone that will be there for you no matter what.

At night I couldn't sleep. I just had a nightmare, again. It hadn't happened to me since the last time I was here, until today. In the dream, there was a man I couldn't identify, but I would never forget his golden yellow eyes and his wicked grin. For some reason I was running away, but anywhere I went, he was there. And suddenly, I wasn't the only one running away, it was my sister, my brother, my mother and a man I recognized as my father. The five of us were running away.

Something was following us, and we couldn't escape from it. All of us embraced ourselves in a hug, and the last thing I heard were screams as a black fog surrounded us before I woke up screaming myself. I was sweating, and I was crying too. It didn't felt like a dream, it was more like... As strange as it sounded, it seemed like a memory.

Thora came running to my room and the moment I saw her I felt a great relief. She stayed with me the rest of the night in case I had another nightmare, as I held the white fluffy bunny close to my chest. Fortunately I managed to get some sleep.

* * *

The next morning I felt drowsy. I rubbed my eyes trying to stay awake and gave a yawn. While I was going to the Hall to get something to eat, I found the teens and their dragons, Stoick, Gobber and Mulch gathered around, inspecting... A hole in the floor. But there was something unusual on it, the hole was the size of a house! Toothless sniffed the ground curiously, and then started to growl dangerously at it. He sniffed it again, and he roared, standing in two legs.

 **"It's him! He's back!"** He roared.

"Whoa, hey!" Hiccup raised his hands and Toothless stood in his fours again. "Come on bud, it's just a hole."

"It's more than that! It's like an underground village!" Another voice said from the hole. We looked over it and found Bucket standing at the bottom of it.

"Bucket! There you are." Mulch said rolling his eyes. "I've been looking for you all night!"

"Sorry, Mulch. But I think I finally found it: My happy place!"

Just as he said that the ground started to shake. Bucket barely turned around when a cloud of dust covered him and the next thing we saw, he was thrown out of the hole and he had landed on his butt on the ground, as he held his bucket in pain.

"Are you alright, Bucket?" Stoick ran over him and knelt besides him.

"Not so happy anymore."

"What happened?"

"Something pushed me out! Something's down there. Something big!"

I walked lazily to them. Ahti frowned to himself and looked at the ground, scratching the back of his head. Toothless growled at the hole before he jumped right into it, disappearing from view. I was about to ask where he'd go, when Ahti slowly looked back up, eyes wide in realization. "Oh no..."

The ground started to shake again, and I spread my arms apart to stay balanced. Strange sounds came from the ground, as if voices of people whispering.

"What is that sound?" Astrid wondered.

"Eh, whatever it is, it's giving me the willies." Gobber said backing away.

"Everyone, take cover!" Ahti yelled.

Out of the blue, something came out from the ground, sending rocks flying around. I looked up with great effort and found a snake-like creature completely covered in spikes with a big head, small wings, and mouth full of razor sharp teeth looking at... Looking? It's eyeballs where completely white. Was this a blind type of dragon?

Seconds later, all riders ran to our dragons but it took me more time than usual. Being up most of the night didn't make any good.

"Nobody move!" Ahti warned.

"No much of a problem here." I replied, my eyelids closing by themselves.

The dragon turned it's head towards each of us, narrowing it's eyes as if looking for something. And then, I heard a voice.

 **"Where are you...? Where are you...?"**

Suddenly I was wide awake, and I bit my tongue to stiffen a scream. It was the dragon's voice. It had been a while since I heard another voice besides the dragons from the village, hearing this one was kind of unexpected. The way it talked was strange, it snarled and growled most of the time, and it could be barely heard.

"I don't like the way it's eyeballing me." Snotlout said.

"Uh, don't worry, it's not just you..." Fishlegs replied nervously.

Snotlout rolled his eyes. "Thanks, big relief!"

 **"ARGH!"** The dragon roared before diving back into the ground, leaving an awful silence with his departure.

"What. Was. That?" Astrid asked slowly, still recovering from what happened.

"Whatever it was, I want one!" Tuffnut said.

"If I had to take a guess," Fishlegs started, "I'd say that was a—"

"Whispering Death." Ahti finished up for him and Fishlegs looked at him in surprise.

I leaned against my dragon and tried to close my eyes for a moment, but Thora made me the favor to jump up and down to keep me awake. It worked in a way, but I almost fell from my saddle and the stuffed bunny almost fell off its place. Since I got it, I had been carrying it on the bag of my saddle and sleeping with it every night.

"Wow, great name. Much better than Zippleback." Tuffnut continued, bringing me back to reality.

"How did you know it was a Whispering Death? You haven't read the Book of Dragons."

Oak flew to the center, just in front of the hole where the Whispering Death went and Ahti looked at us.

"It doesn't matter. What it matters is what he's here for. He's looking for Toothless."

Hiccup gave a step to the front and raised an eyebrow. "Why would the Whispering Death be looking for Toothless?"

"Because they have a history. I don't know what happened between them, but the Whispering Death came all this way to take revenge on him. We have to—"

He was interrupted when a noise was heard, but it was so weird I blinked the sleepiness off in a matter of seconds. I recognized it almost instantly, it was a neigh. There was a note of silence, before we heard it again, much closer this time.

"Did you hear that?" Hiccup asked.

"Loud and clear." I nodded. "I know just one animal in the whole world that knows how to neigh, but this is just out of place."

"Considering you and me are here," Ahti shrugged, "everything's possible."

The ground shook for the third time this morning, and the same new dragon burst from the floor creating a new hole. He roared and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.

 **"Intruders! Get out of my tunnels!"**

Gobber didn't need to know to speak Dragonese to know the dragon was angry. Angry? How about, _furious_? "Why don' yeh do that thin' where ya touch its nose n'feed it grass?" He looked at his old apprentice.

"Uh, Fishlegs, what do we know about the Whispering Death?" Hiccup asked.

"Boulder Class; Razor sharp teeth, incredibly strong, hunts from underground." Fishlegs recited like a poem.

"Now I _really_ want one!" Tuffnut yelled excited.

"So, how do we deal with this thing?" Snotlout required a little too loud for my liking. Well, you could tell now he was scared, but at this point who in here wasn't?

On the sky appeared Stoick in the back of Thornado, his Thunderdrum. Thornado roared at the Whispering Death powerfully enough to send it flying away, but the intruder wasn't affected at all. In fact, it got even angrier. We covered Stoick from the back and as the dragons circled each other, Toothless emerged from the hole and roared at us.

 **"Stand back all of you!"** He ordered.

Our dragons did as told and Toothless roared back at the Whispering Death. The latter recognized the Night Fury and spiked up, alarming all of us.

"Toothless!" Hiccup shouted.

It lunged for Toothless, who managed to dodge to the side with a barrel roll before tacking the Whispering Death. It flew away, as Toothless fired three plasma blasts at it but missed. He tried to fly, but due to his tail he wasn't able to, something everyone noticed including the dragon.

"Toothless can't fly without me! He's a sitting duck!"

Thornado landed and the chief walked to the blacksmith. "Gobber, man the catapults, and when that thing is clear of Toothless, Fire!"

"Dad, wait!" Hiccup pleaded as he ran towards his dragon. However, as he tried to mount on the saddle, Toothless shoved him to the side. Hiccup was taken aback at this. "What? Toothless, wha-what's wrong?"

Said dragon ran after the Whispering Death, but when he heard the voice of his rider he stopped and turned to him. **"Stay away!"** He roared, before he ran away.

"What was that all about?" Astrid asked as Hiccup stood up.

"I have no idea." He shook his head. Ahti ran towards both of them.

"Toothless won't let anyone get in this, especially you Hiccup. It's his fight." Ahti explained. "He doesn't want you to get hurt in the process."

"But I could help. Toothless won't get very far if he can't fly, and he can't if I'm not with him." Hiccup protested.

The fight continued. Before anyone could react, the Whispering Death used his tail as a whip and shot spines towards Toothless, one managed to dig itself into his back leg making Toothless roar in pain.

 _"_ Gobber!" Stoick and Ahti shouted in unison.

Gobber pulled the lever from the catapult and a boulder was launched at the Whispering Death. It bounced off, and the dragon shrieked before going back underground and it disappeared.

Hiccup ran towards his dragon and noticed the spine on the leg. "Oh no, you're hurt."

Toothless turned to Hiccup and softened when he saw it was only his dear rider. Hiccup pulled the spine out, and in that moment Toothless ran away.

"Toothless, wait!" Hiccup yelled, but it was too late.

"Where's he going?" Astrid asked.

Snotlout smirked. "Probably running away to lick his wounds." He laughed. Half of the riders glared at him.

"It's not funny!" Hiccup snapped. "He could've been killed. He can't fly, remember?"

"And whose fault is that?" Snotlout shot back. I gasped.

 _Smack!_

"Ow!" He turned to me rubbing the back of his head. "What did you do that for?!"

"For being a total prat." I snapped.

"Um, does anyone want to talk about what in the name of Thor just happened?" Fishlegs interfered.

"Uh, dragon fight? Just another day on Berk." Tuffnut said.

"Not any dragon fight," Ahti continued. "It was a fight to the death. And this isn't over yet, until one of them turns out victorious, this will continue. It could last days."

"But Toothless turns out victorious at the end, right?" Hiccup asked.

To our surprise, Ahti nodded. But then he added, "However, we've got to be careful. Now that Anna and I are here things could turn upside-down. They have been changing plenty of times already and we're just going through the first season."

We nodded, and then Fishlegs raised his hand.

"What do you mean by 'going through the first season'?"

All the riders turned towards us with a raised eyebrow. Hiccup, Ahti and I shared eye-widen looks. "Dear Odin..." Ahti muttered.

 _At night..._

It took us one complete hour to explain the riders what did we meant. They have done thousands of questions and bombarded us with every little thing they didn't get. But after that, we all returned to our homes.

When night came, Hiccup applied to Toothless' injure some sort of antidote Gothi gave him. He was doing calm, soft and slow circular movements as he applied the medicine. Toothless on the other hand was super jumpy, he growled at every little sound heard in the house. Ahti and I were making some company, Ahti was leaning against the doorframe and I was sat on the edge of the bed.

"I-I really wish you could just tell me what was going on out there today." Hiccup said. Then his eyebrows rose in realization. "Anna, can you–"

"I'm on it, I'm on it." I said as I rubbed my eyes. Now that night had fallen I was falling asleep way faster. I felt as if my eyelids weigh 100 pounds. I stood up and yawned, before I stroked Toothless on the neck. He growled at me but eased up when he noticed it was just me. "Hey, Tooth."

 **"Tooth?"** He tilted his head.

"It's a nickname." I explained with a smile. "What happened out there? What was all that between you and the Whispering Death?"

He looked away. **"It's nothing. Just someone from my past."**

I deadpanned. "Well, yeah, we know that. But, what happened between you two? Why is it looking to fight you?"

He growled again. We turned to see Stoick walking upstairs and Hiccup calmed his dragon down.

"How's our wounded warrior?" Stoick asked.

"He's still a little on edge." Hiccup answered, looking with concern at Toothless.

"Don't worry, Toothless. I think we showed that dragon a thing or two about uninvited guests on Berk." He patted Toothless on the snot. "I don't think he'll be coming back any time soon. At least I hope not." He said lastly, as he walked away.

"Yeah, me too. Okay that should do it, bud. You just need to take it easy."

 **"I'm going to bed now."** Toothless warmed up his stone bed and lay down. I huffed.

"What did he say?"

"Nothing that we don't know. He doesn't wanna talk about it. Whatever happened is something very personal, that I understand."

Ahti placed a hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "Don't worry, buddy. We just have to be there for Toothless and everything's gonna be fine." He assured.

Hiccup turned around to face him and gave him a hug. It took both Ahti and I off guard such gesture, but Ahti gave back the hug. What was more stunning was that it wasn't that sort of hugs nowadays between men, when they give two slaps on the back and all good. It was one of those meaning, comforting hugs we all need every once in a while.

They broke the hug and Hiccup thanked the both of us, and we started to leave. But then Hiccup stopped Ahti. I didn't stop anyway, I walked downstairs and just paused for a moment to hear Hiccup saying something. _"You know, I remember you once told me you were my fan. What was this movie thing, again?"_

 _"You seriously want to talk about it?"_ Ahti asked between surprised and exited.

 _"Sure."_

I smiled to myself and I returned home.

* * *

"Aaaahhh!" I screamed, throwing the blanket off. I was panting.

 **"Anna! Are you okay?"** A feminin voice asked.

"Thora, i-it was so ho-horrible. He was t-there ag-gain." I sobbed, as a cold shiver ran through my body. She nuzzled me gently and I threw my arms around her neck.

 **"It was just a dream. Do not fear, I will be here always."**

"C-could you... Could you sleep with m-me?" I whispered.

She jumped on the bed and embraced me with her body. Feeling her warm scales against my bare arms made me fall back asleep almost instantly. I snuggled against her and she placed a wing over me as if it was a blanket. I sighed as I held my bunny near my heart and closed my eyes.

 _In the morning..._

At the arena, I could barely keep track of the conversation with the gang. The nightmare was five times worse than last time, and that was saying something. I had woken up three times in a row last night, and I got so scared I had to sleep with a candle on.

For a reason, I felt something was watching me in the night, but every time I looked around there was nothing. It was like a shadow, I knew it was there but I couldn't do anything about it, and it scared me.

"You okay there, Ann?" Ahti asked me.

I blinked and until then I realized my eyes were cloudy. I cleaned them with the back of my hand and looked at him.

"Yes, yes. Everything's great... Any clue on how do we find Toothless?"

"He must be looking for the Whispering Death." Hiccup reasoned. "We find it, we find Toothless."

"What do we do if we find the Whispering Death first?" Fishlegs asked.

"We train him."

"You know he's got 'death' in his name, right?" Tuffnut asked Hiccup as the latter walked to the gronkle guy. But then, Ahti spoked up.

"Actually, Tuff has a point. This is one of the few dragons that can't be trained. Believe me, the further we stay away from it the better."

"If Ahti is able to say something like that, that means it's a serious thing." I said. "Maybe we should think this twice before doing anything."

"Fishlegs, is there anything about a weakness?" Hiccup asked as Fishlegs flipped through the pages of the Book of Dragons.

"Actually, no. It says right here: 'no known weaknesses'."

"The Book's wrong." Ahti said and we turned to him. "It does have a weakness. The sunlight. It's an underground dragon, it barely has contact with the sunlight. That's why it's eyeballs are all white, because it's practically blind."

"Okay, great, can we go now please? We don't know how much time we have." Hiccup urged as he mounted Thora. I mounted too and we flew off.

Half an hour later, as we tracked Toothless, Hiccup spotted something else on the ground.

"There, down below." He pointed with his index finger and we all noticed the ground was full of holes. More precisely, Whispering Death holes. We landed and Hiccup practically flew over, cupping his hands around his mouth, calling Toothless.

"How do we even know the Whispering Death made these holes?" Snotlout asked. I facepalmed.

"So you think it might be the other 2,500 pound, rock eating Dragon we're following?" Astrid said sarcastically, smirking.

Snotlout considered for a moment. "I know what you're— Don't try to confuse me!"

We started looking around and suddenly, Hiccup found a fang. "He must've lost a tooth."

"Is it sharp? If it is I want it! I like sharp!" Tuff exclaimed.

"Yeah, sharp is good!" Ruff continued.

"Think about this: hundreds of those spinning together, ripping through dirt and tree roots. Discarding rock like it's not even there!" Fishlegs said.

 **"There is something in the ground!"** Stormfly shrieked.

 **"It's like a giant worm!"** Barf continued.

 **"I can feel it coming!"** Hookfang growled.

"Uh... Guys? The dragons are having a bad feeling about this..." I said.

Hiccup placed a finger on his lips. "Stop! Listen..."

"Listen for what?!" Tuff yelled.

"I don't hear anything. What are we listening– Mmm mm!" Ruffnut and her brother stared at Ahti, who had placed his hands over their mouths to shut them up.

We stayed quiet, activating each of our senses, all six of them. Yes, six. The five senses and the sixth, the one that tells you when something is wrong. After a few moments, we gave up.

"It should be here." Ahti said frowning, already removed his hands from the twins' mouths. "Of all the episodes, this is one of the very few I remember all too well. Something's off."

Everyone stood in silence again, hoping to hear any sound at all. I looked up at the sky, and I gasped. "What's up there? In the clouds! Look!" I pointed upwards.

Everyone looked up, and we noticed a group of black figures that contrasted with the grey sky like black spots on a Dalmatian's white skin.

"What is that?" Astrid asked.

The figures flew closer, and I could swear I saw them coming towars us. But that was too much. Unless it was a pack of angry Whispering Deaths, it was very weird. Little by little, the figures became animals. They had four paws, they were tall, they had a mane, a snot, and yellow eyes... Wait a minute, yellow eyes? Why did that sound familiar?

"What dragon in the name of Thor is that?" Snotlout asked.

"Those are no dragons. Those are horses!" Ahti said. "But horses don't fly!"

 _This must be a dream..._

I looked at the floor, and I saw my shadow become bigger until it had the form of a man, and it suddenly turned to me. The same wicked grin from my dreams formed in its face, and when I heard the horses neigh, every puzzle piece was set in place.

 _Or a nightmare..._

~ _Woman!_ _It doesn't matter what it is! You gotta RUN!_ ~

I snapped out of it and I ran to my dragon. I didn't wait for anyone to say anything and I didn't even questioned what was happening, I just gave a soft kick at Thora's side and we took off. All I knew was that I had to get away as fast as possible from that place.

We went to the opposite side from those things —because I refused to call them by what they actually were— and we passed them. But then, they changed direction and started following us! I tried to stay cool and I didn't even tell my dragon to go faster, until I looked back and locked eyes with one of the black horses. Bad idea.

They went even faster, as if I was their prize and they were desperate to get it. I shut my eyes and tightened my grip on the saddle. Thora sensed the tension and she didn't have to be told to speed up.

We flew through the trees and zigzagged, changing the direction every once in a while or doing sharp turns, trying to lose them. But even if we had advantage, they didn't seem to give up.

"Jeez, what do they want?" I asked out loud.

Well... If they wanted _me_ , then they would have to come and try to get it.

We waited for those things to catch up. When they were almost here, Thora turned around and shot three bioelectric blasts to the nearest horses, then she turned again and sped up as fast as her wings let her.

This was not going to last, those things weren't normal, they could go on for hours with this persecution but I knew Thora was tiring out. I didn't want to put her more at risk. I commanded her to stop. She tried to protest but I didn't listen to her, we simply landed. Ten of those things surrounded us. I did no movement, I feared they'd hurt my dragon, and I wouldn't let anyone do it.

They were approaching slow and dangerously. The fear was eating me from the inside, and no matter how hard I tried to show firm, my heart pounded a thousand times per second. I felt I couldn't breathe properly, I needed air and as the seconds passed there was less and less ground between the horses and us. I thought it was the end, until a ball of fire hit a horse. I looked at the sky and I realized all the riders had followed us.

 _Just in time._ I thought.

Thora blasted without warning at another horse, while the riders ordered their dragons to attack the rest of them. Soon, none was left, but all of this tired me out more than usual. I felt a swirl under my feet, then I closed my eyes and I knew no more.

When I opened them again, I knew nothing. I didn't know where I was, or what day it was, or what had happened. I stood up from the ground, which felt hard and very cold. I realized it was made from stone, like bricks.

I looked around, and there was nothing. Everything was black, except for a mirror that glowed in the center. I approached it, and I saw my reflection. I stretched my arms, I gave a turn, everything was fine. Until I noticed something unusual on the mirror. There was someone behind my reflection. I turned around and there was nothing but darkness, however it was still there in the mirror.

It was a person. Not one, several. It were the riders! I smiled when I saw them, I felt happy to know them and I was glad they were my friends. Just when I thought that, they started acting very strange. That is, the reflections of my friends in the mirror. They smiled at me too, but way... Evil, mocking, with mischief. My smiled started to disappear while they started to laugh, lounded and louder. What made it worst, was that they were laughing at _me_.

I was so confused I couldn't formulate any word or phrase. I just stayed quiet, observing as the color vanished from each of them until they were completely black and white. It was as if they were using black makeup, their hair was completely black and their clothes were from gray to total black.

I diverted my gaze to my own reflection. I felt a lot of emotions in that moment. I frowned, until I was completely mad, furious. Without me noticing, my reflection started to lose color as well. I saw the riders walk away while they laughed so hard, and I couldn't do anything about it. I was sad, scared, alone, friendless... Friendless?

It was like waking up, I blinked and gasped when I noticed my reflection had changed. It was completely different, I saw myself and I didn't at the same time. It wasn't me, that evil smile, that deranged look, the dark hair... It simply wasn't me. Finally, I found my voice.

"No." I said firmly. "This is just a nightmare, this isn't real. My friends would never leave me alone."

I stretched my hand and I placed it on the mirror. I put pressure on it, and the glass started to crack. My other me gasped when she saw what I was trying to do and suddenly one of her hands went through the mirror, and gripped my wrist. When she noticed my surprise, she smiled again and started to laugh. Her nails dug in my skin and I groaned in pain. I fell to my knees and I screamed.

"Aaahhhgggrrr!"

I snapped open my eyes, but it wasn't a good idea. I closed them instantly when I felt the sun in my face. I blinked several times and narrowed my eyes. There was grass under my weight and I saw my friends faces, full of angst. Ahti was knelt and I felt he was lifting my head with his hand.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You passed out. It seemed you were having some sort of nightmare we couldn't wake you up. You okay?"

I nodded my head slowly. He held one of my hands and helped me to get up with extreme caution. I didn't move my eyes from the floor, the nightmare had affected me a lot. I tried to divert my attention at something that could make me forget about it.

"You think you still can go?" He asked me. I looked at him for a moment, gave a nod and my eyes returned to my feet when the ground started to shake. A familiar sound reached our ears.

"The whisper..." Fishlegs said nervously.

"Looks like we beat Toothless." Snoltout said.

"Yeah..." Astrid agreed. "We win..."

"I'm not feeling like a winner!" Fishlegs shouted.

The Whispering Death suddenly bursted from the ground and growled at us, mostly at Fishlegs, being the nearest one.

 _"_ Hi, um... I like the teeth..."

The Whispering Death roared and eyed each of our dragons, then burrowed back underground.

"I hate it when he does that! Can you at least tell me why he does it?!" Snotlout yelled, as everyone turned to Fishlegs.

"Maybe to hunt...?" He suggested. "Maybe because it's cooler...?" He got no response. "Maybe to look for water...?" Nothing. "OR MAYBE BECAUSE HE CAN'T STAND THE PRESSURE OF EVERYBODY ALWAYS EXPECTING HIM TO HAVE THE ANSWERS!"

I gritted my teeth. Poor of him, he needed a break. We all needed it.

Seconds later, the dragon came back.

"Somebody hold it still. I wanna pet it!" Tuffnut extended a hand towards it, but Ruffnut held her brother back before he got himself killed. Hiccup walked forwards.

"Do you actually have a plan, or are you just trying to get yourself killed?" Astrid asked as if she read my exact thoughts.

"If I can train it, it'll leave Toothless alone."

"Hiccup, I told you already, this dragon can't be trained!" Ahti pointed out. Hiccup didn't listen. He extended a hand and looked away, as the dragon charged towards him, creating a cloud of dust. When it cleared up, it's head was inches away from his hand, but it retracted back underground.

"Okay..." Hiccup said.

"Hiccup, no." Ahti said. Hiccup jumped inside the hole. He sighed. "Of course I'm going after him." He muttered and shook his head before jumping down too. We looked over it to see the two boys walking further in.

"Oh, man. I am _so_ glad I'm not down there with him right now— whoa!" Fishlegs yelped as Snotlout pushed him down the hole.

"Oops."

We only glared at him.

Fifteen minutes later, the three boys were still down the hole and hadn't showed up since. We started to get impatient.

"They've been down there forever." Astrid bent down and started to call their names. "Hiccup! Ahti! Fishlegs!"

"Yep, right here!" Hiccup responded.

"Did you see the Whispering Death? Was it cool?" "Did you touch it?" The twins asked one after another. "I wanna touch it!"

"Can we talk about this later? We really need to get out of this hole!" Fishlegs said.

We looked up and we saw a trail of earth moving everywhere, coming quickly towards us. "Yeah, you do!" Astrid said.

Ahti suggested Fishlegs went first and he gave no argument against it. The boys lifted him up from down there and the rest of the riders helped Astrid pull Fishlegs out. Next it was Ahti, who practically climbed the hole by his own. Then he realized his mistake.

"Hiccup, hurry!"

Hiccup jumped trying to reach Astrid's hand, but he couldn't reach. When he did, he slipped.

"I can't reach!"

"Hold on!" I ordered.

"Ann, not you too! Don't do it!"

I jumped. But Ahti had grabbed my hand trying to stop me, and he went down with me. He blinked in surprise before we lifted Hiccup up just in time. That meant, it was too late for us.

"Everyone stand back!" Ahti warned, as we braced ourselves for the impact.

"WHOOAAA!" We screamed as an incredible strong force threw us from the whole with a dusty cloud. We flew at least eight meters high and I caught a glimpse of the Whispering Death ready to catch us both with ITS TEETH!

I shut my eyes. I didn't want to see the death that was awaiting me. Out of nowhere I heard a different voice.

"NO!"

Something wrapped it's limbs around me and I shivered at the sudden cold touch, but I didn't let go. I was carried bridal-style away from the danger, until I felt we were descending carefully and we landed. "It's okay, it's okay." A familiar voice talked. "You'll be fine."

Even if my heart still pounded very fast, I wanted to see my savior. I recognized the voice, but I didn't want to be wrong about who I was thinking. I looked up from his brown cloak covered in frost, to his pale face and his caring ice blue eyes. I almost wanted to cry from relief. "Jack..."

He smiled and arranged one of my loose hairs behind my ear. "Hello, snowflake."

I hugged him, happy to see him again. "You came back. Please, don't go away."

The next words made me smile, although he couldn't see me. "I won't."

"Frostbite, are ya crazy?! Ya could've been killed!" Someone with a weird Australian accent scolded Jack, startling me. We broke the hug and Jack rolled his eyes, as he turned around and set me in the ground. I wondered who called him 'Frostbite', and if it was a compliment or an offense. If it was the latter, they would be sorry for calling him that.

I didn't expect to find a giant rabbit with tattoos, golden bracelets, and two boomerangs strapped to his back. Much less to see my best friend on his back, clung to him for dear life. "Ya can let go now, mate." The rabbit said in an annoyed way. Ahti raised his eyebrows, before he mounted off him. The rabbit sighed in relief and cracked his back.

"Sorry. Thank you anyway, for saving our lives, Mister... Uh..."

"Aster E. Bunnymund." The rabbit introduced himself. "Ya can call me Aster."

My eyes went wide when I remembered who he was. I was staring at the very authentic, Easter Bunny. Ahti might know everything about the How to train your dragon universe, but I knew the Rise of the Guardians universe like the palm of my hand.

"Kangaroo!" Jack called. Aster's eyes went wide as he groaned throwing his head back, and turned to the white paled skinned teen. Er, spirit.

"I thought ve've been over this!" Bunny said, waving his paws in exasperation.

Jack crossed his arms and placed a hand on his chin. "I don't recall that conversation." He replied thoughtfully, and I chuckled. Bunnymund sighed, as if they had been over it a thousand times already. I could bet they had, and they still were missing a lot of centuries.

"Well, I would like to stay, but there's still work to do. Pitch's still outta there." I blinked at the mention of Pitch Black. Aster looked at Jack. "I guess you're staying. Take care, mate."

Jack nodded. "You too."

"See ya all folks on Easter!" Bunnymund tapped twice the ground with his paw and a hole appeared, much smaller than a dragon's. He jumped in it and it closed after him, as a flower grew in its place like he was never here.

"Come on, the others must be worried." I said, before Ahti could make any questions.

We returned with the others and Snotlout pleaded to get out of here, but Hiccup refused.

"No. I know I can train this thing. Anybody–"

"Hiccup!" Ahti shouted, startling the viking. "Face it. It. Can't. Be. Trained. We were almost eaten alive! We have to leave while we have the chance!"

"Come on! Everyone, dragons!" Astrid ordered.

We made a run for our dragon friends. The Whispering Death started to chase us, but it was stopped when Toothless tacked it! It was up in a matter of seconds, but when it saw it was clearly outnumbered, it sunk into the ground.

Hiccup saw his opportunity and tried to mount Toothless, but he didn't let him. In fact, he ran off once more. I groaned. This game of hide-and-seek across the island was really annoying me. Once again, we had no idea where they had gone to, but then Ahti miraculously remembered the episode, and he guided us to a cliff. By us, I meant all of us, including the Winter Spirit, but he flew behind all of us in case not everyone could see him.

Toothless caught sight of us and warned us to stay out of it. The dragons took his advise and no matter what we told them, they wouldn't give another step forward. They knew it wasn't their fight.

"Fine, it's on us now!" I said as we dismounted them and ran towards the cliff. Before we could reach Toothless, the Whispering Death dove underground and the cliff broke apart, living a huge gap between us and the Night Fury. "No!"

Now that Toothless had no exit, the Whispering Death opened it's jaw and for the first time, we saw it shot rings of fire towards him. Toothless jumped back to avoid them, but he almost fell from the edge.

"He's gonna knock Toothless into the canyon!" Hiccup cried.

Toothless looked at us with wide eyes. **"This is no good!"**

By the looks of his face, Hiccup understood what he said. Without warning, he raised a foot in the air and stepped of the ledge, freefalling into the canyon.

"HICCUP!" Astrid, Ahti and I yelled at the same time. Was he crazy?!

As the Whispering Death shot more rings of fire at Toothless, the Night Fury jumped after his rider. Rocks fell to the ground creating a giant dust cloud, so thick we couldn't see anything further from it. We feared the worst. Just when all hope seemed lost, Hiccup emerged on the back of Toothless and they flew towards the sky.

"Finally!" I yelled in relief. "Hurry guys! To our dragons!"

"Hold on." Ahti placed a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry. Leave this to Toothless and Hiccup, they can do it."

I bit my lip in doubt, but I trusted him. We watched as Toothless shot plasma blasts down the Whispering Death holes, and the light came from them like fireworks.

"This. Is. Amazing!" Ruff said as we walked and mounted our dragons.

"We've got to find you an arch-nemesis." Tuff said to Belch.

Finally, the Whispering Death had no choice but to get out from its hiding place and in that moment Toothless tackled it to the ground. They roared at each other, and Toothless was ready to finish it off, but then decided it was not worth it. He had already won the fight, he didn't need to kill to prove it. He let the Whispering Death go, and to our relief, that was the last time we saw it that day.

"Aw, man! Toothless could have finished him off!" Snotlout pouted.

"Well, I guess all dragon grudges aren't to the death." Hiccup said.

"And I guess I'll have to change that in the book." Fishlegs considered, as the rest of the riders flew away. I stayed to watch Hiccup talk to Toothless.

"Hey, bud. What do you say we go home?"

 **"I couldn't agree more with you."**

Later that day, we covered all of the Whispering Death hole openings with boulders, to prevent any more of these encounters. I thought this was it and I returned to Berk, to finally have some rest. On my way home, Jack and I walked together to clear up what had happened these days. But before we could get into a deep conversation, we bumped into somebodies.

"Who is that?" Snoltout asked, pointing an index finger towards Jack. He and I glanced at each other in surprise.

"Why isn't he wearing shoes?" Tuffnut wondered.

"Yeah, and what's with the stick?" Ruffnut continued.

Jack was too stunned to say something. I elbowed him, and he managed to say something.

"Can all of you see me?" He asked the seven teens in front of him, who gave him questioning looks. Only Ahti realized what he meant by that, and he gasped in surprise.

"Wait... Are you... Jack Frost?"

"Well, people around here know me by the name of Jokul Frösti." He said mostly to himself with an awkward grin and everybody gasped.

"No way..." Tuffnut said slowly.

"Is it really Jokul Frösti?" Fishlegs asked with excitement.

Jack looked like he would pass out in any moment. They realized who he was. "They see me... They... They see me!" He cried with a wide toothed grin, before he laughed and jumped in the air, doing all kind of aerobatics he knew, as snow started to fall.

"Snow Day!" I cried, before I managed to gather enough snow to make a small snowball, and threw it at Ahti.

"Hey!" He cried as it hit him in the side of the head. The riders and Jack were laughing their heads off, until Ahti threw a snowball at Snotlout, and they laughed even more. That's how we spent our afternoon, playing in the snow and having fun. After all, Jack was the Guardian of it, wasn't he?

* * *

 **WARNING: HUGE AUTHOR'S NOTE AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!**

 **I know, I know. Two** **days later but like I promised, second chapter here! I can't believe how far this story had gone, we've just hit +3,100 views! And all thanks to you guys! I really hope you like the chapter!**

 **You know... I feel like I owe you an apology (like since a long time ago, actually). I mean, seriously, since chapter seven I've been giving up excuses to why am I updating so slowly, when I used to update a chapter per week. I've tried to make it up by doing longer chapters, but I couldn't help the guilt inside me. I'm sorry for that guys. Life's been kinda awful for a while and fanfiction it's more like a hobby to me, but it became more like something I _had_ to do and not that I _wanted_ because I made a lot of promises I felt I could keep, and sadly I've been breaking them. I'm truly sorry for that. **

**I've had amazing reviews from all of you, and I feel sad to see people who used to review in the first chapters doesn't review anymore. I mean, okay, people doesn't have to review in every single chapter, even I don't review every chapter of the stories I follow, but I think I have to do something with the fact there's been less and less reviews since then. Is it my way of writing, is it the way _that_ chapter is at the beginning (you know what I mean), is it that I update slowly, is it you find it boring because the chapters are very long, I don't know. But I love to see people reviewing, because it's a way to say "hey, you ****story's not so bad, it's worth it to keep it up." However, I feel lost right now, I don't know if I'm doing a good work, remember I'm only human and I make mistakes.**

 **Sorry about that^, but I felt like I needed to get it out and somehow make you know. I didn't mean to make you feel bad about it or to offend anyone, it was just to inform you guys. I feel like after you read this, people will review saying nice things and comforting reviews, but that ain't my intention. You guys are free to say what you want. If you want to review, that's up to you.**

 **Thanks again for the ones who have reviewed even just once, and thank you very much for the ones who dare to follow and favorite this story. I don't know what I did to deserve you. So I'll take the reins of my life, and I _will try_ to update like I stated in my profile. I _will try_ also to give it a shot to my other stories, which I kinda left abandoned... **

**One more thing! I want to inform you How to live a movie will be taken off from my profile and be rewritten. More like, I'll leave it there and rewrite it, and then I'll take off the old version. And I guess that's it... Thanks for the ones who took the time to read this. Until Next Time...**

 **Scout017, out.**


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